Adultery is alluring the world over, author finds

The language of love transcends all borders, but the dialect of adultery is sometimes lost in translation, says the author of a book that takes readers on a round-the-world tour of cheating.

On her journey, which makes pit stops in Japan, South Africa, France, Indonesia and the United States, author Pamela Druckerman finds there's no country in the world where people are immune to temptation.

She also discovers -- no surprise there -- that men are more likely to cheat, as are those in the lower-income bracket. Druckerman also finds that American men and women under the age of 40 tend to cheat at about the same rate.

But adultery crises in America last longer, cost more, and inflict more emotional torture than anywhere else, says Druckerman, author of the new book "Lust In Translation: The Rules of Infidelity from Tokyo to Tennessee" (Penguin Press).

Among North Americans, for example, marital lapses are widely perceived as the first step toward divorce court, says Druckerman.

Yet in European frontiers and beyond, infidelity is simply considered an unexpected challenge to overcome.