ni hao is ok .

If you want to learn chinese, maybe I can help you! Skype:kong.ethan

There is no alphabet in Chinese. The script is written with with glyphs which encodes the meaning unlike alphabetic languages where the sound is encoded. See <a href="http://www.italki.com/knowledge/page/Chinese%20Characters%20-%20The%20Way%20They%20Are.htm">http://www.italki.com/knowledge/page/Chinese%20Characters%20-%20The%20Way%20They%20Are.htm</a>;

There are about 30,000 characters but one can get by with only 1,000 or so. About 3,000 are needed to read the newspaper.  There are only about 50 root "words" or basic characters.  Once you know it, all other characters will fall into place. Hence any character combined with the radical for tree (wood), then everything will be somehow connected with wood like tables, chairs, benches, names of trees, etc. The script is  easier than speech because you are not used to tones. Cantonese has 8 while Mandarin has 4.

It is like trying to pronounce the "ma" sound in English for the words, ma, made, mara, marker.

The 'hello' in chinese is "你好", the pronuciation is similar to 'Ni How'.

Wish this can help you.

I guess it is all about the tone, 你, should use the third tone. 好，is the second tone.