Shui2/Shei2

[Joldo Mundus]

When are these pronunciations for 'who' used?

[jukebox]

You can choose one as you like and both pronunciations are right.

However, most people now read it as 'shei' in spoken Chinese, as it's easy to say 'shei'.

[Desmond]

My friend who's from Harbin says "shui", but when I lived near Shanghai, I heard "shei".

My Beijing prof says "shei" as well, so I'm thinking it could be a manchurian thing?

[wai ming]

Don't think it's a Manchurian thing - my mum (southern Chinese) says shuí, as do some other southern Chinese I know. Think it probably just depends on what you were taught/what you're used to saying.

I personally think shéi is easier to pronounce though.

[nipponman]

On many movies I will hear shei2. I hear shei for many things though, for example someone said shei4 jiao4 instead of shui4 jiao4. I think it is becoming more and more prevalent.

nipponman

p.s. We had a thread on this about 10 months ago, I'm sure if you searched "shei shui" you would find it and find some interesting info there.

[Quest]

shei4 jiao4 instead of shui4 jiao4.

No, that's never the case....

[nipponman]

For some reason that is a shocker to me. I guess I have to be more flexible, but I thought you only said shei with shui2