Every CHAR, VARCHAR, or TEXT Column has a column character set and a column collation.
Column definition syntax has optional clauses for specifying the column character set and collation:
col_name {CHAR | VARCHAR | TEXT} (col_length)[CHARACTER SET charset_name] [COLLATE collation_name]
CREATE TABLE Table1
(
column1 VARCHAR(5) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_german1_ci
);
MySQL chooses the column character set and collation in the following manner:
If both CHARACTER SET X and COLLATE Y were specified, then character set X and collation Y are used.
If CHARACTER SET X was specified without COLLATE, then character set X and its default collation are used.
If COLLATE Y was specified without CHARACTER SET, then the character set associated with Y and collation Y.
Otherwise, the table character set and collation are used.
Quote from MySQL document: www.mysql.com