Traveling with all sorts of different people since an early age, Jack just kind of picked up bits and pieces here and there from merchants and the like. He felt it might be valuable to know, so he kept studying. Lots of time to study when you lead a largely unproductive lifestyle.
Sounsyy and her little sister, Sophie, were taught the barest education with the Gridanian children after they fled Ala Mhigo. Sounsyy rarely attended her studies and so was not very literate for most of her young adult life. It wasn't until she retired to Limsa Lominsa (and later became an officer for the Knights of the Barracuda) that she actually applied herself to learning to read and write.
She is still incredibly poor at both. It takes her forever and a headache to sludge through all of the paperwork and documents and manifests she's been studying and I try to portray that best I can.
Ember doesn't know how to read. She is blind but she also doesn't know how to read braille. I doubt Eorzea has braille anyway and with most people illiterate, it wouldn't make sense for her to be able to read braille. Considering she grew up as a wild child in the wilds of Thanalan, she is lucky she knows how to talk.
Coatleque is still learning how. She has had a smattering of teachers over the past five or six years, but no formal education.
The first was a fellow slave, Sapphire, who had to teach her the mannerisms expected by the clientele (and mostly so she could read documents and distinguish gil denominations to steal). Her lessons were only reinforced later by the conjuror's guild. And finally, she's had to self-teach herself the rest as it becomes necessary by her current position.
Aaron as a kid would study words by looking at them for the longest and memorizing the symbols before asking someone to read it word for word. He'd then link each word with the stuff writing by marking each on his fingers to keep track like so.
Example -Â
I walked a dog.
^ Aaron would memorize each single word (he knew the space in between each word would mean a new word was next) and when he asked someone to read he'd memorized how they said it. this also would as a unexpected side effect teach him how to count.
"I" would make him raise one finger and think of the first word he saw on paper. Â "Walked" would be two fingers and so on.
Generally time he was done Aaron could pronounce the words and know how they were written. He learned definitions a little later on.
The inhabitants of the unnamed island (which a few old Roegadyn who've sailed as far as there refer to as Toeg Isil - lit. Secret Island) are actually fairly literate - There is a culture of minstrels who often carry books to give to young children around the farms, and Kellach, bedridden for many years, had no choice to learn how to read or else die of boredom if not sickness. He was raised on flowery prose.
Cwinuwil is the son of a fairly well-known armorer and used to own his own business. While he won't be able to write anything beautiful anytime soon, he can certainly read well and write decently.
L'yhta learned quite late (around 18 or so), after she ran away to Limsa Lominsa. She was taught her letters by her master; in order to study and research magic and aethereal manipulation on a professional level, she had to be able to read and write. Learning this late could cause difficulties, but the training regimen was quite aggressive, she's quite intelligent, and she's always loved both stories and solving puzzles.
EDIT: Funny enough, only the two characters I have who are tied to the Wizards' Choir (L'yhta and her master's previous apprentice, Cieranaux Aramont) are literate. My other alts, rarely played as they may be, are illiterate; they know that "those squiggly symbols" might mean "don't go in here" and "these squiggly symbols are your mark," but any real literacy is outside their expertise.
(01-10-2015, 12:19 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: [ -> ]L'yhta learned quite late (around 18 or so), after she ran away to Limsa Lominsa. She was taught her letters by her master; in order to study and research magic and aethereal manipulation on a professional level, she had to be able to read and write. Learning this late could cause difficulties, but the training regimen was quite aggressive, she's quite intelligent, and she's always loved both stories and solving puzzles.
I concur!
Gus learned to read and write in his early years seeing as his family business had to invest in their future heir. Instead, Gus decided to make his own pumpkin business.
Then L'yhta took Gus as her apprentice, teaching him briefly about simple techniques. Everything else, Gus taught himself from books. Those were fun times lolÂ
Perhaps most roleplayers have their characters able to read and write because there's a misconception that the inability to do so means the character is unintelligent.
Crisiet learned from his mother, a runaway noble from house Dzemael. However, it's not something he does incredibly often anyway. He'd much rather be in the garden.
Celestaux grew up in poverty, a situation all too common for the duskwight of the shroud. As such, he is illiterate. He doesn't like being illiterate though, and would very much like to learn.
Eicha'to is from a small and traditional moon-keeper tribe. He could not read and write as his family's traditions and stories were passed down orally. However, as he wandered he learned some basic literary skills. Enough to get around.
Chachan learned his albeit oddball level of literacy from his mother, who was the daughter of an Ul'dahn merchant family. She was also the one who tried to teach him how to work the markets and economics and such, but he spent most of his lecture with her daydreaming. As such, he's literate enough... but big or advanced words can trip him up rather easily.
Franz had a formal Garlean education, whatever that is. While in the military at the time, he was taught the basics of Eorzean so that he could be used for spy missions, should they have ever come up. (They never did for him).
Since having been more permanently relocated to Eorzea, his skills have improved, but not really of his own efforts. He does enjoy studying older books, which has greatly improved his read and writing. Amdaporean and Nymian writings seem to have been the most interesting, but he has a working knowledge of Allagan writing, due to his study of Arcanima.
Doendraga claims to have learned his letters and numbers from dealing with shipping manifests and orders during his youth on his father's merchant ship the Blue Cry. His literacy is substantial though for someone who learned it in bits and pieces over years which makes such a claim a bit dubious.
The lone Elezen aboard the tradeship Aysun grew up on taught her to read and write. Probably why her writing seems so much more educated than her speaking. Somewhat of a mysterious past, that one had...
Eorzean early childhood literacy programs.
Yvelont was afforded a basic education at home and higher learning at an Ishgardian military academy with other young nobles being groomed for the knighthood.
Aeghwab is illiterate, having spent much of his life working aboard a smuggler's cutter. But he is willing to learn.