Unicode is the universal alphabet. ....
Thank you for this very good explanation!
Let me add that one can mis-use the encoding stuff for other "translations", like in
http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/252124
D. Eppstein shows there a "LaTeX" encoding that replaces international chars with their LaTeX commands.
Best regards,
Henning Hraban Ramm
Südkurier Medienhaus / MediaPro
Support/Admin/Development Dept.