Hi Rmiao:

create table tempNVarchar
(column1_varchar20 varchar(20),
column2_nvarchar20 nvarchar(20))

insert into tempNVarchar (column1_varchar20, column2_nvarchar20)
values ('ie, Ä ä Ö ö Ü ü ß', 'ie, Ä ä Ö ö Ü ü ß')

1. I expect the column1 will be error since it is not nvarchar.
2. I expect the column2 will be truncated since nvarchar(20) could only store 10 characters.
3. but the insert result is ok withour error. And the retriving is fine too. some puzzle...

again, thanks for your help.
David