Language support by NLS_CHARACTERSET:AL32UTF8

Question

Hi,
I have very less idea about the multiple language support in oracle database.
select * from nls_database_parameters where parameter like '%CHARACTERSET';
It returns me:
NLS_CHARACTERSET     AL32UTF8
NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET     AL16UTF16
SELECT * FROM NLS_SESSION_PARAMETERS;
It returns me:
PARAMETER     VALUE
NLS_LANGUAGE     AMERICAN
NLS_TERRITORY     AMERICA
NLS_CURRENCY     $
NLS_ISO_CURRENCY     AMERICA
NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS     .,
NLS_CALENDAR     GREGORIAN
NLS_DATE_FORMAT     DD-MON-RR
NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE     AMERICAN
NLS_SORT     BINARY
NLS_TIME_FORMAT     HH.MI.SSXFF AM
NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT     DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM
NLS_TIME_TZ_FORMAT     HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR
NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT     DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR
NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY     $
NLS_COMP     BINARY
NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS     BYTE
NLS_NCHAR_CONV_EXCP     FALSE
Can you tell me,according to the above configuration,what languages will be supported by this database(oracle 10g)?
I would need to store german,japanese,chinese and etc...Is it possible to do so?
Can the change in the database setting help me to achieve inserting as well as retrieving data in numerous languages?Then what is the change that needs to be made.I don't want any junk values like inverted question mark during retrieval.
Can anyone please help?
Thanks a lot in advance.

Answer 1

The NLS_CHARACTERSET setting of AL32UTF8 means that the database supports Unicode. So you can store virtually any character from any language in a CHAR or VARCHAR2 column in the database.
Retrieving and displaying the characters, as well as providing a GUI to enter the data properly, depends on client and application settings. For example, my operating system (an English language version of Windows) doesn't support Chinese characters using the default code page. So if I queried Chinese data that was properly stored in the database in SQL*Plus, the conversion would fail. You would need an application that had native support for Unicode (i.e. iSQL*Plus, many/most browser based apps, etc). On the other hand, a user of the Chinese language version of Windows would be able to query that same data via SQL*Plus because that version of Windows supported the necessary characters in the default code page. In order for that to happen, though, the Chinese client's NLS_LANG would have to be set in order to convert the characters from Unicode to the client's default code page.
Justin