Lol, no, you’re actually making a lot of sense. Like, I know what you’re getting at. And I agree. But I wouldn’t say Mandarin ‘d’ is closest to the English ‘t’. English ‘t’ is pronounced like Mandarin ‘t’ as in tian (天).
Mandarin ‘d’ is more like Japanese ‘t’ as in tabeteimasu (食べています) - specifically the second ‘t’ in te (て).
Another comparison is the Malay ‘t’ as in ‘tangan’/‘takut’.
Or like the German ‘t’ in words like ‘stolz’.
I guess it depends on what English dialect and language set you know. When my Taiwanese students use mandarin d to replace English d, most of the time I’d thought there saying the English t. It’s not the exact English t, but when I switch my mode to English, that’s the closest I get.
I seldom have problems with the Japanese D and t. I might get confused if I should ad the ten ten when writing, but I have no problem saying them. I don’t understand the mechanism though… but when Japanese speak English, I find it easier to tell their d from t.
I really need my 甘梅薯條 right now. I enjoy this discussion but I feel like my writing structure is a bit crazy 
I guess one way to pronounce the mandarin d is to do an unvoiced d. Put your hand on your throat to feel the vibration of your voca cord. It’s like a combination of English d and t, you want the tongue movement of d, but the unvoiced feature of t.
huh?
You don’t mix them up, Taiwanese people do.
I dunno about you but that’s what I call a ‘D’ 
I thought that 浪費 pinyin langfei was nanfei. Double combo of n-l and an-ang on one syllable. When I figured out it was lang and not Nan I had a laugh.
I think in general the point for me is that the boundaries between sounds are drawn in different places in Chinese compared to in English, the range is quite a bit more for Chinese on some of those sounds.
I have to cross my fingers Everytime I say 十 cause people always hear it as four. I’ve tried everything but they still hear four
10 is 4 with a rising tone.
Emphasise your rising tone.
If you mix up 十 and 四 then it’s not just the pronunciation also the tone. My experience is that foreigners don’t have a stable tone. Any fluctuations in the tone could be perceived as a different word. With four, you need the “s” sound, it’s a dropping tone, so don’t raise the tone in any case. With ten, it’s close to “sh” and it’s a rising tone, if you have doubt and somehow drop your tone even for a bit, we can’t tell what word you’re trying to say.
Also, are you in the south? The n-l merger (?) is not as obvious in the north. Sometimes people do intentionally mix them up but usually they’re pretty distinct.
The en/eng, on the other hand, is basically the same sound in Taiwanese dialect. It’s understandable if you can’t tell them apart. Some of the elder generation of 外省人 might still distinguish the two sounds, but not the youngsters.
Yes I know, and with an h. Doesn’t seem to help me, lol
No it’s not…
No H in Taiwanese mandarin.
SH and S is the same.
Yes it is. In Taiwanese mandarin it is.
I live in Taiwan.
I’m grasping at straws so I throw the H in. It only creates further confusion 
.
End of the day I have to do hand signals for that one word
My family has lived in Taiwan for 23 generations. I’m telling you it’s not the general pronunciation. Some people with 台灣國語 might do that, but those are rare cases.
Every generation before the one happening right now is irrelevant.
We’re talking about how people talk right now. In 2021.
Relevant or not, 十 and 四 has different pronunciations and different tones.
I didn’t bring my microscope to interpret that but I hear what you are saying. 
I told him with a different tone. But you can see, it’s cited in this book.
It hasn’t been the same since my grandmothers time till now. And I doubt it has every been the same since 清朝.
