Hill Mynahs are capable of mimicking any voice or sound they hear.  Java Hill Mynahs and Greater Indian Hill Mynahs are the most popular mynahs kept as pets.  The Java Hill is the larger of the two and has a louder voice.  Both are excellent talkers, capable of learning as many words and phrases and able to imitate and talk as clearly as any human.  A mynah will talk in the voice it prefers and when it chooses. 

We have owned pet mynahs since 1982.  For several years we had two pet mynahs at the same time and enjoyed them interacting to things they each would say. They developed a vocabulary of over 100 words and phrases. When I didn't have time for giving one on one lessons, I played a recording of my voice with phrases I wanted them to learn .  Don't expect a recording device to do all the work because it is important to bond with your bird and give it personal attention.

If your bird will stay perched on your hand outside the cage, you can use this opportunity for a talking session.  Whether its inside or outside the cage, during a lesson, talk to your bird and repeat the word or phrase you want it to learn, giving it time between repetitions to think about what it's hearing. Allow time for your bird to repeat what you are saying. Continue the lesson for about 10 minutes and repeat the lesson at least a couple of times a day.  

African Greys are very good at learning to whistle tunes and are quite satisfied with keeping their whistles to a limit, but I do not recommend trying to teach a mynah to whistle at all.  Do not do anything that would encourage a mynah to whistle for it can become quite annoying and shrill.  You can count on your mynah to occasionally do some whistling on its own so you don't want to add to that.  If you know you cannot handle this at all, then I don't recommend getting a mynah bird.  Some noise comes with owning a mynah.  They get excited over things and you need to handle it by looking into the cause for it and try your best not let it get to you.  Sometimes just covering the cage for a few minutes will stop the whistling but it depends on why the bird is doing it.  Maybe you just got something out of the fridge and your bird is excited in hopes it will be getting its favorite treat; maybe it is in need of some clean water for drinking or bathing; maybe it just wants some personal attention from you; or just to have some freedom out of the cage for a little while.  Be observant and you may find the whistles are justified - well, at least to the mynah they are.

Begin saying "hello" to your bird as soon as you get it home. It will start talking by making little sounds and you cannot make out what it is.  It may make sounds such as "eh".  It will soon begin its attempt to say "hello".  You need to start letting your bird hear that first word even before it is able to begin speaking.  If you wait until your bird is several months old to start training, the first word may seem to never come.  The older a mynah is that hasn't been trained to speak words, the harder it is to get one to do it.  That doesn't mean it will never talk.  It is up to the individual bird.  You may think you are trying to no avail to teach your bird to talk, but there is no way to know for sure and it may surprise you some day, so don't stop talking to your bird.  A mynah can still be an enjoyable pet even if it chooses not to mimic words or phrases.  Most will, at the very least learn to mimic some pretty interesting sounds.  Some continue to learn words, phrases and sounds throughout their whole life, but the more rapid learning phase seems to be during the first couple of years.  Usually the easiest and first thing to teach one is to say "hello".  You do need to be careful what you say around a mynah because it will decide what it wants to repeat.  Usually a mynah prefers to repeat words or phrases when they are heard with enthusiasm and excitement.  A very young bird has a bit of a raspy voice at first and as it tries to repeat word it hears, it may sound like something different than what you expect.  It may even be trying to say something entirely different than what you are wanting it to say. They don't always end up learning to say exactly what we want them too.  Sometimes words will sound broken or mixed up, but with practice and from hearing the phrases repeated, the mynah learns to speak the words more clearly.  When training your bird, use expression in your voice.  It can make a difference in getting your mynahs attention.

The personal bond you create with your bird from the beginning is important.  It will need to feel comfortable and secure with you and its surroundings. You'll have a better chance of your bird becoming a talker by purchasing a domestic, hand fed baby from a breeder.  I had not hand fed a baby mynah before.  With proper instruction, I did very well.  Most breeders now will not sell unweaned mynahs, so usually you cannot get one younger than 6 or 7 weeks old now, but that is still plenty young enough to begin training your mynah to talk and to bond with you. 

Mynahs are very intelligent birds and associate actions with phrases and sounds. When our bird hears us pick up the car key, it knows the next step is for us to go to the door, so we hear, "You wanna go out?".  "When our dog goes to the door, our bird says "Scruffy, you wanna go out?". 

By purchasing a baby mynah, or even an older one that has already become talker, you will more than likely get to enjoy the experience of owning a mynah to the max.  Keep in mind that a mynah that does not turn out to be a talker can still make a wonderful and enjoyable pet.  There are a few owners that have purchased older mynahs that did not get much attention when a few weeks old and didn't talk, but in spite of that some older mynahs have surprised their new owners with a few  words or phrases.  An older bird is less likely to learn to mimic what you want it to learn but even the young ones can be that way.  Again, it is up to each individual bird how much and what they will mimic.

Mynah birds have lots of personality and comical antics.  I like to refer to them as little black feathered entertainment centers.