In English, there are two different sounds for the consonants "c" and "g." A hard "g" sounds almost like a "k," as in the words great, good, and pig. A soft "g" sounds more like a "j," as in the words large, general, and giant.
G can make two sounds: /g/ or /j/. The hard g sound is more common than the soft g sound. The hard g sound makes the /g/ sound as in gum. The soft g sound makes the /j/ sound as in giant.
Usually, a c or g sound is hard or soft depending on the vowel that follows it. Here's the general rule: When c or g meets a, o, or u, its sound is hard. When c or g meets e, i, or y, its sound is soft.
Some hard g words include game, gate, gall, gap, gobble, glow, gray, green, ghost, guess, again, and ago.
Soft and Hard G
The most common sound for the “g” is the “hard” sound as in the word “goat”. However, if the “g” is followed by an i, e or y it makes the “soft” /j/ sound as in the word “giraffe”.
Lots of words spelled with <gi> are pronounced with a "soft g": ginger, gin, giraffe, giant...
G is normally associated with two sounds, as represented by the words GIRL and the word GIANT. The G in GIRL is a sound referred to as the 'hard' sound and the G in GIANT is referred to as a 'soft' sound, similar to the letter J.
When g is in front of an i, y, or e, it is soft and says /j/. For example: giant, gypsy, and gem. When g is in front of any other letter, it says /g/. For example: go, gave, and gravel.
It's just slang. It's not considered “proper” whatsoever. Some English speakers have accents that cause them to pronounce words in that way, and some of those people may not be educated in grammar, which therefore causes them to write it that way as well.
During the Middle English period, we borrowed a lot from French, which used 'g' for a hard g before back vowels (a, o, u) and a soft g before front vowels (i, e).
The letter “g” makes the /j/ sound when followed by an “e,” “i” or “y” in a word that is often derived from Greek or Latin (these languages do not use the “j” symbol to represent the /j/ sound).
Any other letter that follows requires a 'hard' pronunciation of 'g' as in 'progress' and some more examples are: golf, pig, great, grasp and gum.
Hard g at the end of a word (big, frog, leg) Hard g if it's a Hebrew name (Gideon, Giliad)
I do have both on the main phonics page, but as a general rule you usually only teach the most popular one first. For this it would be the hard “g” as in gorilla.
The G in the word goat is hard; it takes on the /G/ sound. The G in the word George is soft; it takes on the /J/ sound. Explanation: When the letters C or G come before an A, O or U the sound is hard. When the letters C or G come before an E, I, or Y the sound is soft.
Hard and soft 'c' and 'g': it is a hard 'g' in “grass”, but the grass itself is soft.
Hard g sound
If a consonant follows the letter 'g', then the g sound is hard, like in glass, grapes, glove, etc.
The sound /tʃ/ is a voiceless, alveo-palatal, affricate consonant. Press the middle of your tongue between your alveolar ridge and your soft palate. Quickly move your tongue downward while forcefully pushing air out. The air in your mouth should stop before it is released.
Rule G is a prohibition against railroad employees working while intoxicated. It was originally a near-universal provision of individual railroads' operating rules, and is now part of the universal code of the Association of American Railroads.
“It's pronounced JIF, not GIF.” Just like the peanut butter. “The Oxford English Dictionary accepts both pronunciations,” Wilhite told The New York Times. “They are wrong. It is a soft 'G,' pronounced 'jif.
The 'g sound' /g/ is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate while producing it), and is the counterpart to the unvoiced 'k sound' /k/. To create the /g/, air is briefly prevented from leaving the vocal tract when the back of the tongue lifts and presses against the soft palate at the back of the mouth.
Silent (g)
In addition, the digraph ⟨gh⟩, in the dominant dialects of Modern English, is almost always either silent (as in “bough”, “thorough”, “furlough”, “night” or "weight") or pronounced /f/ (as in “tough”, “enough“ or “laugh”).
g- sounds roughly like the English "g" sound. This is voiceless as well in Chinese, it might sound a little like a "k" to you.