utf-8 latin1 problem charset collation

If I am sending utf-8 data to a mysql db which has a charset of utf-8 but a collation of latin1 wo开发者_如何学JAVAuld that be a problem? and why?

what does the collation do in this case?

I am getting mangled up data when I extract it from the db, will a collation change fix that?

Update

The mangled data in the DB is for example like this:

 Töst

It should be like:

Täst  

correct?

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About your error: make sure you send SET NAMES utf8 to your SQL server before INSERTing the data.

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It wouldn't be a problem, per-se. The collation controls things like sort order & how comparisons are accomplished.

It is likely that the mangled data is being caused by something else.

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Collation relates to how different characters will be compared. This could cause issues if you are comparing utf-8 data with a latin1 collation since you may get different results than what you expect. Changing the collation will not stop the data from being mangled.