SQL Server 2005 multiple languages/characters

datatype - nvarchar and choose a collation to the one matching the language

if you want to store multiple languages on the same column go for the nvarchar

Thanks. I did nvarchar but I have a limited number of collation and don't know which one I should choose.

it should be multiple languages in the same column. Is there a collation that could accomodate that?

None of the collation settings affects the way data is stored. They only determine how it is compared and sorted.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143726(SQL.90).aspx

thanks again. I tested one entry submitted in Arabic so far and what is stored in the db are a string of interrogation marks. I take it that the problem isn't with the field settings in the db but in the coding of the ASP or the server configuration?

it is encoding from the ASP

so should I ask the question to ASP people or do you have any idea what I should be looking at in the ASP?