"Consider that 也 is /yě/, and 得 is /de/. Except actually, the two e's are not the same sound." I know this. And I see where you are coming from. But again, you

"Consider that 也 is /yě/, and 得 is /de/. Except actually, the two e's are not the same sound." I know this. And I see where you are coming from. But again, you are to focused on someone just reading text outright, without learning the "rules" of the language. This is where the problem is. Not taking the time to understand the language you are learning. Your example is just another "rule" that is found in any textbook. I have probably 30 Chinese languages books on my shelf and I can find this and all the "rules" about pronouncing a /d/ as an unaspirated /t/ in most all of them. So, it seems that learning pinyin is just fine if a person "learns" properly and just doesn't gloss over the foundation. I appreciate your explanations, BTW.