mySQL table update

I have a large table with quite many dates in format dd.mm.yyyy (don't ask why :) and I want to convert them into yyyy-mm-dd for obvious reasons. How can I do this the smartest way? I know I could do it with php and update it row by row but that doesn't seem too smart. Can I somehow do a copy from table to table at the same time? Like: Table 1: Name = John Doe Date1 = 01.01.2001 Date2 = 02.02.2001 Table 2: Name = NULL Date1 = 0000-00-00 Date2 = 0000-00-00 And now I want to set Table 2 to this: Name = John Doe Date1 = 2001-01-01 // Value from Table 1 Date2 = 2001-02-02 // Value from Table 1 At least tell me what to look for in the manual. :) Niklas