Gingrich says sorry after slap at US Spanish-speakers

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a possible contender for the 2008 Republican US presidential nomination, apologized in a video posted on YouTube for calling Spanish the language of the ghetto.

Gingrich said that what he meant to say was that it was necessary to speak English well to be successful in the United States. And he said US funds would be better spent on intensive English courses than on bilingual education for children in the United States.

Hispanics are the largest US minority group and some US Hispanic groups were outraged by the conservative's remarks.

The United States has no official language, though the federal government operates in English. More than 80 percent of the US population of over 300 million people speak...