URGENT: Cant open an important word file(encoding problem i guess)

I need to open this word file urgently. Whenever i try to open it, the following window pops up in MS Word 2007 and if I click OK strange characters appear in the word file. The document is in 97-2003 word format and Ive tried opening it on different PCs and even MS Word 2003 and MS Word XP but no luck.
I remember that Ive come across such files in the past(and I am sure most of u have too) but whenever I clicked OK the document would open. I guess this word file/document uses some other encoding. Please help me open this file. Will any other software work? any other solution...

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/6600/29800181nj7.th.jpg

 

Maybe try Open Office: http://www.majorgeeks.com/OpenOffice.org_For_Windows_d3461.html or maybe another word processor type of utility. Try these:
AbiWord 2.5.2 Beta: http://www.majorgeeks.com/AbiWord_d5325.html
Angel Writer 3.1: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Angel_Writer_d5350.html
DIZzy 1.12: http://www.majorgeeks.com/DIZzy_d5351.html
Universal Viewer Lite: http://www.majorgeeks.com/Universal_Viewer_Lite_d5422.html
Dizzy and Universal Viewer will only display the documents and don't allow for actual editing, but they should let you print it. There's many other Word type utils in the MajorGeeks section for Office Tools; most are free: http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads41.html You could possibly find a converter that will convert the document from Word format to a different format and that may straighten it out. Then convert it back to Word.... Just some ideas for you. I hope they help Good luck!

 

Did you try clicking Windows (default). What text I see is English.

If still unreadable the file could be corrupt.

Also did you scan the file?

this might help you too:

See, Choose an encoding standard when you open a file
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101212491033.aspx?pid=CH100487541033

Easy thing to do is ask what format they saved in or resend in a format you can open.