# Collecting data in other then English Language

**URL:** <https://forum.getodk.org/t/collecting-data-in-other-then-english-language/25369>\
**Category:** Support\
**Tags:** odk-xlsform, odk-collect\
**Created:** [March 9, 2020, 8:01am UTC](https://forum.getodk.org/t/collecting-data-in-other-then-english-language/25369 "2020-03-09T08:01:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![elmps2018](https://getodk.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.getodk.org/elmps2018/32/2063_2.png) [@elmps2018](https://forum.getodk.org/u/elmps2018)\
**Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://forum.getodk.org/t/collecting-data-in-other-then-english-language/25369/2 "2020-03-09T13:46:48Z")

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Welcome to the ODK forum, @Faryah_Saeed ! We're glad you're here. When you get a chance, please [introduce yourself on this forum thread](https://forum.getodk.org/t/-/6671).

I am not sure which tools you are using, but in general downloads with complex characters need to be in UTF-8 or similar. See:

> [@Text responses appearing as ? in raw data - Amharic Questionnaire on ODK collect](https://forum.getodk.org/t/text-responses-appearing-as-in-raw-data-amharic-questionnaire-on-odk-collect/25258/3):
>
> I am not sure for Amharic, but for Arabic we have to make sure we download/open everything with UTF-8 encoding. Excel tends to make a mess of this kind of formatting, so we tend to open in something else (I usually just import directly into STATA which can retain UTF-8).

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