A2: Pinyin
Pinyin is NOT Chinese.
Chinese = Chinese characters. Chinese is a pictographic language.
It was created thousands of years ago.
Pinyin is a standardized sound-marking system based on Roman alphabet, created for people to learn Mandarin pronunciation.
Pinyin transcribes the Chinese characters so people can pronounce it. It may be used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into computers or electronics as well.
Chinese pronunciation and spelling of pinyin letters are different from English letters. The sounds, which the letters of pinyin represent, do not correspond exactly to the sounds that the letters of English represent. So you can`t pronounce pinyin as if they were English.
Pinyin was invented in the 1950s.
A Catchy Song!
This video here will help you learn how to pronounce the Chinese pinyin alphabet. Sing along!
Pinyin Chart
https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php
The Pinyin Chart from this link provides audio recording for each sound including four tones.