Convert .xls to .sql while retaining the European characters

I have an excel spreadsheet in .xls format and am trying to import it into a MySQL database. I have done all of the recommended steps, exported to .csv, etc., and every time I export to .csv I am losing all of my european characters, i.e. ?. Tried several different ways to do this with no success. We need this .xls file converted to MySQL while still retaining all of the European Characters. We need the MySQL file to have "update" statements rather than "insert" [login to view URL]