According to research from Text2insure, a UK-based company that sells travel insurance via SMS text messaging through mobile phones, more than one in four UK adults have had a romantic fling with a non-English speaking person whilst abroad.

The research has been conducted to support the launch of the company’s new translation service, which promises to translate a number of key words and phrases and text them to individual's handsets in a matter of seconds. The service includes translating chat-up lines and will be part of Hastings Direct’s travel insurance cover, which is the first product to be sold through Text2Insure.

The service can translate into five key languages – French, Spanish, German, Italian and Dutch. Some of the chat-up lines include: 'you have beautiful eyes', 'would you like to have dinner with me', 'what would you do if I kissed you right now?' and - for those with an important deadline to meet - 'do you have a condom?'

According to Text2Insure, 31% of men claim to have had a romantic fling abroad with a non-English speaking person, compared to 21% of women. A third of people aged 25-34 say that they have done this – the highest percentage of any age group.

Nicholas Thurlow, a director and founder of Text2Insure said: "We have developed this service but we are looking to add to the phrases and words we translate and in the near future we will be encouraging users to text us their suggestions."

A straw poll of visitors to the Swift international conference in Copenhagen, conducted by Finextra's onsite daily SibosOnline, found plenty of interest in suggestive double-entendres - incorporating key words such as interfacing, straight-through processing, networking and back office insourcing - most of which were sadly too lewd to reproduce in their entirety.