Is it just me or are some of the words' (not characters') audio pronunciations non-standard? One example I just came across was 协作, xie2 zuo4, which when I hit 'a' sounds like 'jie2 suo4' to me. This is one example, but I know there have been other words which threw me off also when I heard the prerecorded sound.

So, is it just my ears or what? Some descriptions of words overlap somewhat and I use the audio to clarify those situations before writing, but in these cases it makes things harder, not easier!

I feel like I have come across some words that didn't sound right but I can't think of any off hand. However 协作 sounds fine to me.

If you find a word with an incorrect pronunciation, and there definitely are some out there, please to let us know using the feedback button on the lower right of the screen.

But 协作 sounds fine to me as well. The sounds of Chinese can be difficult to hear, and there is some degree of variation in what is considered standard.