Setting the encoding of the MySQL table is not enough - you also need to set the correct encoding for the client, the connection and the results, which by default may differ from server to server, making your database less portable: the same database contents may be displayed differently, moving to another server.
I have been saving Slovenian text in MySQL for some time, and this is what works for me:
- The first thing you do after connecting should be to issue a SET NAMES utf8 request
- , , , utf-8, : -, , UTF-8
- , / : PhpMysqlAdmin .
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