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We have included here the Pinyin romanization for each of the Chinese phrases. Pinyin was originally developed in the U.S.S.R., based on the pronunciation of Cyrillic, so some of the pronunciations are not intuitive to English speakers. However, we use it here because it is the standard romanization system on the mainland, and by far the least confusing and most regular of the systems available.

Mandarin has five "tones." This means that a syllable spoken at a high pitch will often have a different meaning than a syllable spoken at a low pitch. Although this is not completely correct, you can think of the five tones being pronounced as follows:

Tone	Pinyin Marking	Pronunciation
1st	Macron (ā)	Say it as if you were singing it a little bit higher than the highest pitch you would ever comfortably speak at.
2nd	Acute (á)	Say it as if you were asking a question, with your pitch rising at the end?
3rd	Caron (ǎ)	Say it at the lowest pitch you can manage. While there's a little bit more to it than that, doing this will clearly distinguish what you're saying as 3rd tone.
4th	Grave (à)	Say it definitively, as if you were uttering an obscenity after something heavy fell on your foot.
5th	None (a)	I never quite learned this one properly, but what seems to be involved is saying it quickly at a soft volume at neither a high or low pitch.

The hardest part about tones for English speakers seems to be remembering to pronounce them at all in the first place. When speaking naturally in English, one hardly needs to pay attention to the pitch of their voice, except sometimes to add emotion on top of a particular word. If you think you are having trouble pronouncing the tones, try to "sing" what you are saying, with the first tone being a high note, the second tone rising, the third tone being a low note, the fourth tone falling, and the 5th tone being kind of staccato -- short and punctuated, but soft.

When asking someone if your pronunciation is correct, remember to not ask as if you were speaking English. If you do that, you will almost certainly be using a very good 2nd tone, which might not be the one you are trying to use.

Every syllable in Chinese is composed of two parts, called the "initial" and "final." Pinyin has 35 finals, the pronunciations of which can be found in the table below. Note that the examples below are using a West Coast American accent for reference. Unlike the initials, most of the pronunciations for the finals are non-intuitive for an English speaker.

a	The "ahhhhh" that the dentist has you say, except for a shorter time.
o	Like the "o" in "flow"
e	Like the "e" in "problem" or the "o" in "some"
ai	Like the "y" in "fly" or the "igh" in "sigh".
ei	Like the "ay" in "say" or "way".
ao	Like the "ow" in "wow" or "clown".
ou	Like the "oe" in "toe".
an	Close to the word "on" (ahn)
ang	Close to the "ong" in "song" (ahng)
en	Like the "un" in "unlock" (ehn)
eng	Like the "ung" in "sung" or "flung" (ehng)
ong	Like the "ow" in "own" followed by "ng" (owng)
u	Like the "ue" in "blue"
ua	Close to the "wo" in "won" (oo-wah)
uo	(this entry needs an example) (oo-oh)
uai	Like "why"
ui	Like "ue" in "true" followed by "way"
uan	Like "ue" in "true" followed by "won" (oo-ahn)
uang	Close to the "ue" in "true" followed by "ong" in "song" (oo-ahng)
un	(this entry needs an example) (oo-uhn)
ueng	"ue" in "true" followed by "ung" in "sung"
i	Like the "e" in "me"
ia	Like a Scandinavian "ja" or the "ya" in "yawn"
ie	"e" in "me" followed by "ay" in "say"
iao	"e" in "me" followed by "ow" in "clown"
iu	Like the "u" in "cute"
ian	Like the Japanese "Yen" or "yan" in "Mayan"
iang	(this entry needs an example) (ee-yahng)
in	Like the "ean" in "mean" or "bean".
ing	Like the "ing" in "sing".
iong	"e" in "me" followed by "ow" in "flow" followed by "ng" (ee-yo-ng)
ü	Like the French "u" in "tu" or the German "ü". Pronounced by puckering your lips (pulling the corners in like to whistle) and saying the "e" in "me"
üe	ü described above, followed by first "e" from "clever"
üan	ü described above, followed by something close to the word "on" (ü-ahn)
ün	ü described above, followed by normal "n" sound.

Pinyin has 21 initials, the pronunciations of which can be found in the table below. Note that the examples below are using a West Coast American accent for reference. The initials with less intuitive pronunciation for an English speaker are marked in bold. Those would be the first to study.

b	Like the "b" in "barn" or "bat".
p	Like the "p" in "pitch" or "pit".
m	Like the "m" in "mat".
f	Like the "f" in "fear" or "fish".
d	Like the "d" in "done".
t	Like the "t" in "touch".
n	Like the "n" in "neck".
l	Like the "l" in "left".
g	Like the "g" in "go".
k	Like the "c" in "carve".
h	Like the "h" in "hurt".
z	Like the "ds" in "squids".
c	Like the "ts" in "spits".
s	Like the "s" in "swim".
zh	Like the "j" in "joke".
ch	Like the "ch" in "trench".
sh	Like the "sh" in "shirt".
r	Like the "s" in "treasure".
j	Stick your tongue out past your teeth, and while leaving it stuck out, say the "ds" in "squids".
q	Stick your tongue out past your teeth, and while leaving it stuck out, say the "ts" in "spits".
x	Stick your tongue out past your teeth, and while leaving it stuck out, say "she".

Recommended Phrasebooks

For those in the beginning stages of learning the language, or even just hoping to get around in China, a good Mandarin phrasebook is essential. I have personally used the Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook, 4th Edition, which was indispensable on my first trip to China.

In particular, I recommend against the 5th Edition, simply because it has replaced romanizations in Pinyin, standard in any other modern book on Chinese (including the 4th edition), with its own incompatible homegrown variant.

I haven't used the Rough Guide Mandarin Chinese, 2nd Edition in the "field", but I have flipped through it. The translations looked good, and phrases are organized alphabetically by "key word". This organization is better suited toward your communicating things to Chinese people than the other way around.