[queryly]

Pingyin doesn't not only help me learn Chinese, but also learn English's pronunciation later in life. It's not one-to-one match but close enough.

Bopomofo predates Pingyin and did what Pingyin did but with non-Latin alphabet. It was always a surprise looking back that Mao adopted "Western" alphabets for Pingyin when he was very much against western ideology.

It was an excellent call, especially when writing is done digitally nowadays.

[mmport80]

Actually - the legend goes - that Mao wanted to ditch Chinese characters in favour of Pinyin, until Stalin said every great civilisation needs its own writing system.

Chinese writing was seen as a factor in holding back the country - everything was up for change or removal.

[philliphaydon]

I'm currently learning Zhuyin.