The number of students who sat exams in languages not included in the Leaving Certificate curriculum more than doubled this year, it was revealed today.
A total of 541 pupils sat exams on a range of languages, up from 254 last year.
This rise reflects the growing number of foreign nationals in the school system who opted to study their native language.
The number of languages on offer to students increased from nine in 2005 to 19 this year.
The popularity of Polish soared with 171 students choosing to take it as a subject compared with 53 last year.
And the influence of immigrants from the Baltic states also left its mark on the Leaving Certificate with the numbers sitting the Lithuanian paper showing a marked increase as 131 students completed the exam, up 70 on the previous year.
Only 16.6 per cent achieved the highest grades, compared to 9.8 per cent last year and just under 30 per cent in 2006.
However, the strength of those studying their own language showed with only 3.8 per cent failing the exam.
Fifty sat the Latvian paper, 32 per cent secured the highest grade, 2 per cent failed.
The numbers who took Dutch, Slovakian and Romanian also rose.
Other languages available included Czech, Hungarian, Estonian and Bulgarian.
PA