Wierd characters displaying on site

Hi,
Using zen cart version 1.3.9d with template dessert noon. I have the english and french language packs.
I'm getting strange characters displaying for some keys in my product descriptions - eg the apostrophe and the quotation mark (might be some others). But it doesn't occur all the the time and it doesn't seem to happen in the french version of my site.
New to all this - help please would be much appreciated.
Thanks.
ps use little words!!!

I'm getting strange characters displaying for some keys in my product descriptions - eg the apostrophe and the quotation mark

Use the html escape codes for special characters

Hi,
It's also happening sometimes with the "space" key - any suggestions?