SPORTS ON NY RADIO by David Halberstam; Encarta Dictionary

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 9/21/1999 8:19:11 PM, preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU writes:

<< Yeah. But what did he hear (if anything) which made him say "hard _G_"? An
earlier response suggested that the affricate might qualify as "hard" in
English. Think so?

dInIs >>

I'm confused. Wouldn't the /g/ in the Spanish pronunciation be a velar
FRICATIVE (not an affricate)? And wouldn't a velar sound like a "hard G" to
an English-speaker? As opposed to the "soft G" of .e.g.,  WEDGEY (i.e., the
English voiced affricate)?