"d" in Mandarin Chinese is pronounced without the vibration of the vocal cords. In other words, it is voiceless and its pronunciation is similar to t in stay in English.
However, since voiced d does not exist in Mandarin, even if it is mispronounced as a voiced consonant, it would not change the meaning of the character represented by the pinyin.
When "d" and "t" in Mandarin are pronounced, the tip or the blade of the tongue should touch the teeth or the upper edge of the teeth. That is, the position of the tongue is slightly different when their counterparts in English are being pronounced.
"t" in Mandarin Chinese is similar to t in English. It is pronounced with air flowing through the mouth.
When "d" and "t" in Mandarin are pronounced, the tip or the blade of the tongue should touch the teeth or the upper edge of the teeth. That is, the position of the tongue is slightly different when their counterparts in English are being pronounced.
"f" in Mandarin Chinese is pronounced the same way as its English counterpart.
"u" is pronounced with the lips rounded (or puckered up) as if one were whistling. When "u" is not following an initial, it is written as "wu." It is similar to the vowel in English words such as two.dū, dú, dǔ, dù.
"uo" is a combination of "u" and "o." The mouth opens a little bit as one moves from pronouncing "u" to "o." The emphasis is on "o" and the tone marks should be placed on top of "o" wō, wó, wǒ, wò.
One should be careful not to open the mouth too wide so as to avoid mistakenly pronounce "uo" as "ua."
wō, wā, wó, wá,
wǒ, wǎ, wò, wà. When "uo" is not following an initial, it is written as "wo"
"ou" is pronounced by closing the mouth as one moves from pronouncing "o" to "u." It is very similar to pronouncing the letter o in the Roman alphabet. The emphasis is on "o" and the tone marks should be placed on top of "o."
tōu, tóu, tǒu, tòu.
"an" in Mandarin Chinese is different from an in English words such as fan and Dan. This is because "a" in Chinese is similar to a in father.
"fan" in Chinese sounds closer to fine than it is to fan in English. And it is perhaps a sound between fine and fan.
fān, fán, fǎn, fàn.
Similary, "pan" in Chinese sounds closer to pine than it is to pan in English. And it is perhaps a sound between pine and pan.
pān, pán, pǎn, pàn.
"ang" in Mandarin should not be confused with ang in American English such as pang and gang. Since "a" in Mandarin is similar to a in father, "ang" in Chinese is pronounced with mouth open and the back part of the tongue raised to touch the soft palate of the mouth.
fāng, fáng, fǎng, fàng.
