Children in Ireland and Scotland are the only ones in the European Union who do not have to learn a foreign language.
Just 4% of Irish pupils at primary school learn a foreign language.
This is compared to 100% of children in Austria and Italy for example where it is compulsory.
Across the EU children are starting to learn foreign languages at an increasingly early age.
Most pupils begin when they are between 6 and 9-years-old.
The aim of the European Commission is where everyone is taught at least 2 languages in addition to their own mother tongue from a very early age.
The ‘Key Data on Teaching Languages at School in Europe 2012′ report confirms that English is by far the most taught foreign language in nearly all European countries.
It sees the teaching of French, Spanish, German and Russian follow far behind.
The report also confirms that few countries require their trainee language teachers to spend an immersion period abroad.
Only 53.8% of foreign language teachers who took part in the recently published European Survey on Language Competences said they had spent more than a month studying in a country where the language they teach is spoken.
But the Commission says that this average masks a wide variation of approaches.
79.7% of Spanish teachers have spent more than one month studying their chosen language in a country where it is spoken, while this applies to only 11% of Estonian teachers.
It says these findings raise the question of whether exposing future teachers to on-the-ground experience of using the language should be considered as a quality criterion in teacher training.
Read the report in full href="http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/key_data_series/143EN.pdf">here
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