About the Pronunciation

Source from http://www.chinese-tools.com/learn/chinese
but improve and correct by fan (http://fan-dasschiff.blogspot.com/)
 
The Chinese Phonetic Alphabet
There have been many different systems of transcription used for learning to pronounce Chinese. Today the official transcription accepted on an international basis is the Pinyin alphabet, developed in China at the end of the 1950's.

Initials 

A syllable in Chinese is composed of an initial, which is a consonant that begins the syllable, and a final, which covers the rest of the syllable.

b	p	m	f
d	t	n	l
g	k	h
j	q	x
z	c	s
zh	ch	sh	r

Finals

In modern Chinese, there are 38 finals besides the above-represented 21 initials.

	i	u	ü
a	ia	ua
o		uo	üe
e	ie
er
ai		uai
ei		uei (ui)
ao	iao
ou	iou (iu)
an	ian	uan	üan
en	in	uen (un)	üen
ang	iang	uang
eng	ieng	ueng
ong	iong

Table of Pinyin Pronunciation

Letter	English words	Example 1	Example 2	Notes
b	bag	bā	bǐ	(sometimes overlaps with p)
p	pay	péi	pǐ	(pei and bei are often said for the same character)
m	may	mò	mén
f	fair	fā	fèn
d	day	duō	dāng
t	take	tā	tiān	(tian and dian can be confused when listening)
n	no	nǐ	nà
l	lay	lán	lǎo
g	great	gāi	gōng
k	key	kē	kaò
h	hair	hái	Huáng Hé	(often said with a rasp at the back of the throat)
j	jeep	jiē	jú	(palatial)
q	cheer	qián	qiē
x	German ich	xiān	xièxie	(palatial)
zh	[ʒ]like in orange	zhaō	zhěng	(retro - devoiced)
ch	church	chángcháng	chéng	(retro)
sh	sheet	shì	shū	(retro)
r	red	rén	ròu	(retro) (can include a bit of the s on leisure)
z	zero	zaì	zǎn	(devoiced)
c	its	cǎo	cí
s	see	sān	sòng
y	yes	yǎn	yéye
w	way	wèn	wǔ
Vowels
a	father	tā	mǎ
o	[ɔː] like saw	mò	pō	(halfway between o and a)
e	British her	zhè	chē	(in the back of the throat)
i	[i] like in hill	zhi1	cì	(after z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r)
i	[i:] like in see	tǐ	qi1	(after other consonants)
u	rude	lù	jú
ü	French tu, German Fühlen	lǜ	nǚ	(ee with rounded lips)
er	[ə] like in are	èr	ér
ai	[aɪ] like eye	hái	baǐ
ei	eight	méi	geǐ
ao	now	hǎo	zaō
ou	oh	doū	zhoū
an	can	sǎn	wǎn
en	ten	wén	fen3
ang	German Gang	wàng	tāng
eng	[eŋ] like in length	zhèng	céng
ong	[ɒŋ] like in long	zhōng	sòng
ia	German ja	jiā	xià
ie	yes	jiē	qiē
iao	[i]+[au]	qiǎo	jiaō
iu	[i]+[ju]	jiù / jiǔ	liú / xiū	(varies with consonant)
ian	[i]+[ən]	tiān	diǎn
in	in	qīn	jin4	(the j creates slightly more ee sound)
iang	[i]+Gang	liáng	xiǎng	(approximately - with the 'a' in papa)
ing	sing	tīng	bìng
iong	German Jünger	xióng	qióng rén
ua	[u]+[a:]	huà	zhuā
uo	wall	guó	cuò
uai	wife	kuaì	guaǐ
uan	one	yuán	zhuǎn
un	went	cùn	kǔn
uang	[u](wood)+ Gang	zhuàng	guǎng
üe	ü+eh
üan	ü+an
ün	German grün
kongr	corn	yoǔ kòngr	kòngr	(soften n)
wanr	w + far	wánr	wánr	(n is silent)
dianr	d + yar	diǎnr	yoǔ yí diǎnr	(n is silent)

Tones

Mandarin Chinese has four pitched tones and a "toneless" tone.

Tone	Mark	Description
1st	dā	High and level
2nd	dá	Starts medium in tone, then rises to the top
3rd	dǎ	Starts low, dips to the bottom, then rises toward the top
4th	dà	Starts at the top, then falls sharp and strong to the bottom
Neutral	da	Flat, with no emphasis

Tones Changes

• A 3rd tone, when immediately followed by another 3rd tone, should be pronounced in the 2nd tone.

          e.g. Nǐ hǎo = Ní hǎo

• tone for 一(yī)

1. (yī) used or the normal counting numbers, e.g. 11 (shí)(yī）
2. (yí) before the 4th. tone, it changes to the second tone, e.g. an apple :一(yí)个(gè)苹(píng)果(guǒ)
3. (yì) before the first, 2nd, third tone, it pronounce as the 4th tone, e.g. one or two days :一(yì)两(liǎng)天(tiān)

In my opinion, you do not need to  care too much about the tone changes, because the change of the tone wants to make the pronunciation of Chinese easier, not to make the life complicated, so did your body. when you pronounce in Chinese, your brain will do it automatically for you. you are already clever enough to deal with it with out attention.

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