phonemes

Telugu vs. AmE

Consonants:

/th/ in T, a dental stop; /th/ in Eng, a fricative
there is no /w/, an approximant, in T: rather, a labiodental approximant /v/ is used. There is a subtle difference between approximant and fricative. In AmE, there is a labiodental fricative /v/. When L1T's are asked to pronounce fricative /v/, they end up doing approximant /v/

apical stops: /t/, /d/. I've never produced retroflexed /t/, /d/ in Telugu; however, there is a complaint that when Indians pronounce /t/, d/, they produce retroflex /t/ and /d/.

/r/: in T, it is a trilled/. In AmE, it is an approximant, almost like a vowel: just observe /er/ the way Americans produce. It is a hard sound: that's why that sound is avoided in singing.

There are some AmE vowels absent in Telugu: too lazy to use ipa!