At an early age, most humans have developed an ability to communicate through oral language, and by the age of five to seven, most humans can comprehend, as well as express themselves in written thoughts. The amazing human abilities of communicating clearly separates humans from all other animals.

So, does this mean that human and animal communication is impossible? Can animals understand us when we talk to them?

It is usually at 6:30 am when our bedroom is filled with funny meowing noises, jumping, and attempts to open the window curtains. Our 4 year old Norwegian cat named Annika is amazingly skillful and bright animal. Being so impatient in the morning, our cat usually wakes us up, telling us she wants food and attention. Having a pet at home doesn’t only involve feeding the animal but it also requires a direct communication between the animal and its master.

I can thus observe myself that animal to human communication is possible; however, it requires extra attention, practice and patience. Although animals do not understand speeches, animals like cats and dogs learn and understand sounds. Our pets recognize their name being called, don’t they? They can detect angry or loving tones, which allows them to understand a situation.

When I am sitting on the couch and Annika is meowing, looking for some touch and attention, I usually call her, ‘’come here!’’. If she just walks slowly I make an effort saying ‘’quick, quick!’’. I guess she understands me, because she actually responds by running towards me and letting me pick her up.

Human – animal communication is observed in everyday life in the interactions between pets and their owners. In addition, animals have their own ways of expressing themselves and communicating with people; our cat Annika simply gives me a soft meow every time I come out from the bedroom, and I think it is simply saying, ‘’Oh hi, how are you doing?’’

Recently, a video of a male Asian elephant named Koshik that showed him mimicing Korean words went viral n the internet. Apparently, in the video, Koshik mimics words such as ‘’choah’’, which means ‘’good’’ in English, ‘’annoying’’, sit down’’, ‘’no’’ and ‘’lie down’’. According to Angela Stoeger, researcher, from the University in Austria, ‘’ Human speech basically has two important aspects: pitch and timbre.

Surprisingly, the elephant Koshik is capable of matching these two important components of human speech sounds. On the other hand, researchers cannot understand why Koshik imitates human sound and words; many experts believe that Koshik and some other talking animals started to adapt the human words and sounds from their human companions to strengthen social affiliation.

However, Koshik mimics human sounds not entirely as a form of understanding and learning a language, but the elephant is just imitating sounds.

There have been many cases of animals learning and understanding human language; sometimes, it is unbelievable but the reality is that it is simply amazing when it is true.