Hello

My database needs to store content that may come in various languages. The format of the data that needs to be stored in the database is in unicode8 or UTF8.

Does MySQL allow me to store such data without altering its content?
Is varchar, varchar2 good for me?
What column type should I use for such data?

Also, how will that affect the way MySQL perfrorms sorting on my data? How will it affect the usage of soundex()?

thanks in advance