0

I am working with a number of sql server 2012 databases that contain data from different languages. I have been reading up on such and have found getting the collations for the sql server databases correct is something that needs careful consideration. I am not familliar with such and could really do with some assistance. Let me outline, what languages are in which database:

  • Database 1 - Russian data
  • Database 2 - Polish and English data
  • Database 3 - Kyrgyz and Russian data

How do I go about deciding on the collations are for each database? Is there a guide I can follow or any tips on this?

Thanks.

Andriy M
  • 76,112
  • 17
  • 94
  • 154
amateur
  • 43,371
  • 65
  • 192
  • 320

1 Answers1

0

See here for a guide (not yet a version for SQL 2012, but it should be the same):

Also, regardless of collation I'd recommend always using NVARCHAR / NCHAR columns over VARCHAR / CHAR. (I would say NTEXT too, but that's deprecated anyway in 2008 and upwards).

Database 1 - Russian data - `Cyrillic_General_CI_AS`
Database 2 - Polish and English data - `SQL_Polish_Cp1250_CI_AS_KI_WI`
Database 3 - Kyrgyz and Russian data - `Cyrillic_General_CI_AS`

NB: I'm not 100% on Polish and English where things like sorting data alphabetically are concerned; the others I'm pretty confident on though.

amateur
  • 43,371
  • 65
  • 192
  • 320
JohnLBevan
  • 22,735
  • 13
  • 96
  • 178
  • John, many thanks - very helpful. Can I ask, how did you come up with these collations? have read both links and it did not jump out to me where this information may be. – amateur Dec 03 '12 at 21:47
  • Cyrillic I knew, Polish I did a search for that word on the first link. Looking now for something a bit more useful . . . In the meantime I found this which shows what's included in the collation / the sort order: http://www.collation-charts.org/mssql/mssql.0415.1250.Polish_CS_AI.html – JohnLBevan Dec 03 '12 at 21:57
  • I can't find anything better than the above MSDN link I'm afraid - surprising there don't seem to be any tables/tools to list languages against collations out there. Sorry~ – JohnLBevan Dec 03 '12 at 22:07