Pronunciation audio

[Kawaiian17]

So yknow how sounds like せい、へい、おう are pronounced with a long vowel (sē, hē, ō)

Why is it that the audio in both WaniKani and Memrise pronounce it like sei, hei, ou in some words? For example, 兵士 is pronounced heishi instead of hēshi. 正解 is pronounced seikai instead of sēkai. 上演 is pronounced jouen instead of jōen.

Is the audio correct? I’ve always pronounced these words with a long vowel and now I’m really confused. Thank you

[plantron]

If you want to speak clearly it can come out like sei instead of sē. In most situations people are going to speak whole sentences and with higher velocity so it becomes sē.

[Leebo]

I mean, regardless of how you want to try to describe it with words, the audio is native speakers. Whatever you hear is what it’s meant to be.