§ 5 The Consonants
The Germanism of confusing b, p; t, d; k, g, is present in PG. and they are pronounced flat, that is, with more of the surface of the organs in contact than in English—a characteristic which distinguishes German from languages of the Dutch and Low-Saxon (Plattdeutsch) type.11 This must be remembered in reading the examples, in which the ordinary usage of these letters will be nearly followed.
The consonants are b, ch, d, f, g (in get, give), gh, h, j (English y), k, l, m, n, ng, p, r (trilled), s (in seal, not as in miser), sch (in ship), t, w (a kind of v made with the lips alone). ‘ch’ has the two usual variations as in recht and buch, and its sonant equivalent ‘gh’ (written with ‘g’ in German) presents the same two phases, as in G. regen and bogen. ‘ng’ before a vowel as in singer, hence ‘finger’ is fing-er and not fing-ger. ’n’ before ‘k’ is like ‘ng,’ as in G. links (on the left), which is pronounced like an English syllable. Vowels to be repeated are indicated by a hyphen, as in ge-ennǝrt (altered), nei-ichkeit (novelty).
Should letters be wanted for English j, z, v, w, the first may have dzh, and the others italic z, v, w, with ks for x.
As the reader of English who speaks PG. can learn the German alphabetic powers in half an hour, PG. should be written on a German basis, and not according to the vagaries of English spelling, with its uncertainty and reckless sacrifice of analogy. In print, PG. should appear in the ordinary roman type, in which so many German books are now published.12