Like usually the problem with Latex is that you can not be sure if some command will work inside some environment.

They show instead of numbers, symbols, but in the page foot they show as numbers again. Also they get completely together with the next word in the title.

\footnotetext[1]{test1}                                                    
\footnotetext[2]{test2}                                
\title{\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\arabic{footnote}}\setcounter{footnote}{0} 
This\footnotemark\ \ is a title\footnotemark\ \  for showing how annoying is LaTeX sometimes.}                                                                 
\author{hola}                       
\date{May, 2004}                                                              
\maketitle                                                                    
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\arabic{footnote}}\setcounter{footnote}{2}  
Normal text\footnote{test3}

\thispagestyle{empty}