Hui vs. Hwey

[Guest LiXIQing]

It seems to be beating out of reason using Hui in pinyin instead of Hwey or Hway. So I wonder why that?

And what's more why is it sometimes spoken really like hui and sometimes definitely like hwey.

There's a certain phrase audition from http://translate.google.com/ and http://www.nciku.com/

The first word sounds most likely as "hui" and that one before the last as "hwey" especially in nciku example.

There are a lot of people who says there no another way of pronunciation but "hwey" however there are audio examples found in internet dictionaries that sound different. e.g. http://www.answers.com/topic/hui#ixzz1ppHIeAcX , http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/Hui

huihuliibuibuhuisushe(httptranslate.google.ru).mp3

huihuliibuibuhuisushe(httpwww.nciku.com).mp3

[Takeshi]

The pinyin "hui" is a short form for "huei"

There are a few other such short forms. Look at a pinyin chart to learn them all.

[jbradfor]

It seems to be beating out of reason using Hui in pinyin instead of Hwey or Hway. So I wonder why that?

Because pinyin is a system of Romanization, not a system of transliteration into English, and they decided that "hui" looks nicer than "hwey". And, personally, I agree.

[renzhe]

It seems to be beating out of reason using Hui in pinyin instead of Hwey or Hway. So I wonder why that?

It's shorter to write than "huei" and compactness was one of the considerations when creating Hanyu pinyin. -ui and -un are both examples of this, and they catch many people off-guard.

[jkhsu]

The first word sounds most likely as "hui" and that one before the last as "hwey" especially in nciku example.

There are a lot of people who says there no another way of pronunciation but "hwey" however there are audio examples found in internet dictionaries that sound different. e.g.

Are you aware that the different tones of "hui" make the "hui" sound different?

The sound recordings you attached is this sentence "灰狐狸一步一步回宿舍." If you look at the pinyin you will see that "灰" = "huī" (1st tone) and "回" = "huí" (2nd tone). I believe the reason why you think the first one "灰" sounds like "hui" and one before the last word "回" sounds like "hwey" is because of the 2nd tone.

Try listening to the 4 tones of "hui" and note the differences:

灰 (1st tone)

回 (2nd tone)

悔 (3rd tone)

会 (4th tone)

I am not sure but I believe this may be the cause of your confusion (just based on reading your post).

[Guest LiXIQing]

Thank you that's what I wanted to know.

Yes, jkhsu, I've got acquainted with tone system.

Whatever, but in the expression: 你會不會游泳? the verb "can" looks not the same aurally before and after "not". Rather "hui" in preposition and of course "hwei" then after.

Though maybe I'm very bad at listening/hearing.

Thank you all once more.

[tooironic]

There is actually a lot of variation in how Mandarin is spoken by millions of Chinese, even in what can be considered standard Mandarin. Some say "hui", others "hwei". Some say "qing", others "qi-ING". Some say "mo", others "mer", etc. At the end of the day, as jbradfor pointed out, pinyin is just a Romanisation system - it's not supposed to represent every kind of possible sound variation.

[jkhsu]

Whatever, but in the expression: 你會不會游泳? the verb "can" looks not the same aurally before and after "not". Rather "hui" in preposition and of course "hwei" then after.

To answer your question: The "会" has the same pronunciation and tone before and after the "不". However, there are cases where the tone of a character can change depending on the tone of the following character. For example, "不" is a 4th tone character by itself. But when "不" is followed by another 4th tone character, "不" changes to the 2nd tone e.g. 不会，不是，不对，etc. You can read more about these rules if you search for "mandarin tone sandhi".

Also, some characters called "多音字" have multiple pronunciations and meanings. For example, the "乐" in "音乐" and "快乐" have completely different pronunciations and meanings.