I'm a native mandarin speaker. In my experience Pinyin was like a jump-starter of my self-assisted language learning--you can easily lookup words in dictionary

I'm a native mandarin speaker. In my experience Pinyin was like a jump-starter of my self-assisted language learning--you can easily lookup words in dictionary with Pinyin and fill you mind with Chinese words. Also some entry-level books comes with Pinyin on top of the Chinese letters so you can learn how to pronounce by your self. After 1-2 years one can read Chinese and Pinyin will be put away. One great thing is you can precisely pronounce name of a street or a medicine with less effort. Great for communication in daily life.