I am currently doing the beta course for Japaneses on duolingo. In one of the
lessons, I was confronted with this question which I kept getting wrong:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WHqcI.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WHqcI.png)

When I play the sound, the voice clearly says "naka", which I think is なか, but
the answer is ちゅう, which I beleive is pronounced "chuu".

What is happening here?
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2018-05-12T19:25:11.103
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question
kanji pronunciation readings multiple-readings
Why does Duolingo say that 中 is pronounced "naka" but spelled ちゅう?
When standing alone, you would be right in saying that the character 中 makes
the sound なか, but you need to remember that kanji can have multiple readings
(訓読み and 音読み for Japanese readings and Chinese readings). When used in certain
words, like 中学校 (read ちゅうがっこう, meaning middle school), the pronunciation can
change, in this case being ちゅう. The other two options there, わたし and ごく are
never going to be readings for 中.

Also, ちゅう sounds more like "chuu"
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2018-05-12T19:32:21.730
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answer
I came across the same issue on Duolingo. Originally I thought it was a bug
and reported it as such, but having worked all the way to the end of their
Japanese content (and as far as I'm aware this discrepancy still exists) I
currently believe that this was deliberate by Duolingo to introduce users to
the concept that a kanji may have more than one reading. That's a tricky thing
to convey within their structure, so I think that was the best they could do
in the circumstances. Certainly once I processed a bit further I started to
realise it wasn't an unrelated sound but it actually reflected a feature of
the language, and it did help me take that next step. I may be giving them too
much credit, but that's my best answer to the 'why' in this case, having spent
probably too much time fretting about it as I worked through the course.
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2018-12-20T17:38:29.607
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answer