Aeylis's mom was a distinguished arcanist and a teacher of the arts, so before she passed, she taught aeylis how to read and write. Â After her passing, her mother's family continued to teach her until she became estranged from them in her mid-teens, but she had already learned enough to just keep reading to stay up to par.
Antimony learned rudimentary writing from the tribal shaman that preceded her, primarily where it applied to certain rituals. This literacy was limited, but it helped her be not completely lost when she arrived in Limsa; from there she self-taught into something more refined.
Kara learned enough as a child to help her identify a book that might be valuable from, say, an everyday diary or log, and to be able to wade through a shipping manifesto. She puts up a good show to make it look like she can read well, but she's got the literacy equivalent of a real-world second-grader.
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On a related note... I've always found it kind of funny that even though the devs say that literacy isn't prevalent in Eorzea, there's a lot of letter/note passing in quests and as far as I remember, only once does an NPC say they can't read...
Aris can't read, and wouldn't know where to begin. She recognizes a few basic words, for example guild and inn, but doesn't really understand the letters. She would like to learn though.
(01-10-2015, 05:39 AM)Val Wrote: [ -> ]Val totally taught himself how to write.Â
And it shows.
Val is uh self mad man!
C'kayah learned the basics of reading and writing from A'rela Nereh, the silversmith who kept him when he first arrived in Ul'dah. It appealed to her to take a motherly role in his education. Later, after he was driven from Ul'dah, his first lover S'aitei dedicated a lot of time to teaching him. He's currently quite literate, having discovered a love for reading - especially extremely baroque poetry or esoteric histories filled with the prurient details of degraded noble houses.
Faye came from a noble family. Her parents were both literate, and she had tutors to teach her and plenty of time to learn as well as read for leisure. She's very well-educated in general. The same goes for Aelius.
Unmei's mother was semi-literate and taught her the basics. From there, Mei discovered a love for reading, read voraciously and taught herself. She can read well even though she talks like a backwoods Seeker.
Shadiyah's family was literate, being a semi-respected Keeper clan, and taught her to read. She read a lot in her young adult years and honed her skills a little more.
C'therin learned little more than the basic alphabet in her tribe. From there, she's self-taught, and as such her spelling is atrocious, she struggles with large and unfamiliar words, her grammar is very imperfect, and her spoken language is pretty bad. She can read well enough to understand the point and jot down notes that probably only she can easily understand.
Erik was taught to read by the Steward of his famliy's house, a man named Tellah Fortemp. An older wildwood gentleman from Ishgard, Tellah was Erik's mother's guardian when she was a girl and was for Erik a sort of grandfather figure. He imparted to Erik the importance of not only reading and education but how one carries one's self. He more then anything is the source of Erik's noble vibe.
Vae's parents taught him how to read and write so that he might be a proper con-artist when he grew up. That was really their only gift to him.
U'roh can read, but barely write. He was taught to read by his first mentor Ceaulie Babinueax, she wanted to make sure the kit had enough literacy to make it out in the crazy world.
Anzil was first taught to read and write by Gharen and the task was continued by Ryanti. He's still not fantastic at either.
Jana learned the very basics of literacy over time by knowing what the symbols on signs stood for and matching those squiggles to sounds-Can't be an adventurer and take jobs without knowing what the job offers say. But she really developed her ability while studying at the Arcanists' Guild in Limsa Lominsa.
Sanja can't read. She know's her abc's and her name and most of her clan member's  first names.
Oskwell, being the son of a cobbler, normally wouldn't have learned to read, but his brother insisted on teaching him to read and write, even if it be just a cursory amount during his childhood. After he was drafted into the military and since then, he's continued reading on the side as a hobby.
Far as Badr goes, she's only really started to catch up on this once she formally started to study arcanima. It was mostly the Lalafell mentoring her who would often sit down with her to learn it all by heart. Much as I can imagine that even tribal keepers would need some kind of notation system to keep stock of things...and what have you, books would've been nothing but squiggles on paper to her younger self.
And Agrippa...probably the kind of education one gets in Garlemand - at least it would seem plausible that literacy is a lot more widespread. Probably doesn't hurt either that her family's rather well-off due to her mother's position in the military. Much as she is billingual, Agrippa still prefers to just write Eorzean rather than having to speak it, I just like to imagine that accents might be a thing.
As Ilwe couldn't use aether properly when he was young and due to his uncommon situation, he was raised to become an ambassador. To fullfill his function, he was well educated. Reading, writing and learning the three main languages of his homeland was a part of what he learned.