Why does 全員 sound like zein but is written zenin (ぜんいん)?


Is the middle "n" silent? Am I just not used to hearing it and can't identify
it?

  * The duolingo pronunciation sounds like "zein" <https://www.duolingo.com/dictionary/Japanese/%E5%85%A8%E5%93%A1/46748a7b24925ca8284f992c47fdfa40>

  * The two femails pronounce it as "zenin" while the male and AI pronounce it "zein" - <https://forvo.com/word/%E5%85%A8%E5%93%A1/>

  * The hiragana spelling I got is from <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%85%A8%E5%93%A1>




That intermediate ん is still there. Really. When pronounced between two
vowels, ん often causes nasality, without the speaker fully closing the airway
-- so it doesn't sound like an English //n// or //ŋ//. Also, if you listen
carefully and pay attention to the length of time it takes to say, ぜんいん is
truly four [morae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_\(Japanese_prosody\))
(four beats), while ぜいん is only three.




That intermediate ん is still there. Really. When pronounced between two
vowels, ん often causes nasality, without the speaker fully closing the airway
-- so it doesn't sound like an English //n// or //ŋ//. Also, if you listen
carefully and pay attention to the length of time it takes to say, ぜんいん is
truly four [morae](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_\(Japanese_prosody\))
(four beats), while ぜいん is only three.

