Mandarin, no voiced consonants?

[HashiriKata]

wouldn't it be more accurate to call the plosives/stops "plosives" when they're onsets, and "stops" when they're codas? It seems to me that they only explode when they're onsets, and they only just stop the air when they're codas.

I can see your logics but I think the terms "explosive" and "stop" are used for the very same manner of articulation, only picking out a different stage of articulation for naming: To produce sounds such as t/k/p, we have to stop the air stream in order to let it explode.

[Altair]

I think the issue maybe a little more complicated that what has been described.

In Cantonese, the final -p, -t, and -k are are not "released," and there is no explosion of air after their articulation. This articulation neutralizes the difference between aspirated and unaspirated stops at the end of a word and would indeed seem to support calling them "stops," rather than plosives.

In English, final -p, -t, and -k can optionally be released or unreleased, at least in some position. Having done a flashi survey of one, I find it much more common not to release the consonant in my normal lazy speach; however, in a word like "fact," I find it normal to release both the "c" and the "t" when I pronounce the word in isolation, but do not release them in the word "facts."

By the way, we also need to make a distinction between "plosives" and "letting the air explode." Many African languages have implosive consonants, where the glottis is closed and air is actually drawn into the mouth before the following vowel is articulated.

Yes, we're worse than most, including also the vowel of "7" (sju ) which not even Norwegians can pronounce correctly.

I remember thinking that this vowel was like the French "u," until I find out that Swedish also had a variant of this vowel as well (the "y"). I had even more problems with the "sj," which I ended up pronouncing as the "ch" of German "ich" while simultaneously pronouncing the "hu" of Chinese "hui."

That last one has always been amazingly tough for me, trying to make the "p" sound but putting voice behind it. Or alternately, making the "b" sound but trying to make it a plosive. I don't see how those Indians do it!

One thing to remember is that some languages distinguish between an unvoiced and a voiced "h." If you voice both the "b" and the "h" in a word like "Bharat," it is easier to pronounce. English speakers usually use a voiced "h" in word like "behind," if no special emphasis is used.