3 ms·
You are hearing something that isn't present. There's no "w" sound in that video for the number 5. This is a really common misconception/mispronunciation caus
by brobinson 5y ago
You are hearing something that isn't present. There's no "w" sound in that video for the number 5. This is a really common misconception/mispronunciation caused by pinyin as it needs the "w" for disambiguation purposes (see also the use of apostrophes, xian vs. xi'an).
Edit: another poster has some more examples of there not being a "w" sound at all in "wu": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29657822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29657822
- HKH2 5y ago> There's no "w" sound in that video for the number 5. Yes there is. You can argue it's not as strong as an English 'w', but it's there. > This is a really common misconception/mispronunciation caused by pinyin as it needs the "w" for disambiguation purposes (see also the use of apostrophes, xian vs. xi'an). That may have been the case in the past, but the 'w' is definitely pronounced now, just like all the other 'w' sounds in Pinyin.
- brobinson 5y agoI live in a Mandarin-speaking country and speak Mandarin every day. There is no W sound. lol I mean, foreigners can continue mispronouncing it they want, but native speakers are gonna continue to be confused as to why foreigners emphasize the non-existent W sound so much. Foreigners (in my experience) also get confused as to why native speakers _don't_ pronounce a W sound. Maybe some regional accents overemphasize a W sound? I've never heard one, though.
- HKH2 5y agoI asked a native speaker and they said you use your lips a bit more than just saying the 'u' sound. I think it does vary by region. At any rate, I don't think anybody is confused by it.