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Syf · **12-17-2015, 06:48 PM**

My character is illiterate in Eorzean, but knows how to read the Doman language, and read and write in the Xaelan inter communicative language. It's a big problem for her in terms of communicating with fellow adventurer's and adventurer guilds, missing jobs and events because she can't read bulletin boards. Illiteracy is also an issue with trading, as she's an easy target to get swindled out of gil even if prices are posted.

Syf received a translation book for Doman to Eorzean a few months ago, and uses this as a reference to read things now. However the process is long going, because she translates from her tribe's language to Doman and then to Eorzean. Reading a contract for her may take a few hours, so she often bugs others to read for her. It's going to get slowly better, as she'll recognize shapes of common words and add them to her lexicon, but she only reads once or twice a week. It's just not a priority for the character at this moment.

It comes up a lot in roleplay, a lot more than I thought it would. Syf tries to avoid it, or feign that she can read. If she gets confronted about it, she'll say that reading isn't useful or needed.

DanteScaeva · **12-17-2015, 06:55 PM**

Alot of the stuff I was going to say about the subject has already been said so I won't go repeating too much.
I really think it comes down to your characters background, where they're from, I very rarely think it has to do with your race however but sometimes that might be the case!

As for Garrett he can't read nor write, he's rather young as it is and growing up as a Brume rat, let alone an orphan he didn't really have the chance to learn the normal things other people in higher standings might have, but then he can probably do somethings which others can't.
But it's rather amusing, he carries around an old broken pair of reading glasses that he wears sometimes to make himself seem like I can, a small little white lie never hurts.

So when it comes to taken on jobs and what not, he makes sure that all the information is taken in person, if I had to read it from a piece of paper he'd be a pretty rubbish freelancer!

Mae · **12-17-2015, 07:22 PM**

Kara is, at best, what I would consider moderately/semi literate. She can read well enough for everyday use, but I don't picture her being able to easily read anything past what I was reading in kindergarten. My reasoning on her ability is that while there were certainly other skills that would've been much more important for her to learn/for those who raised her to know, the ability to read a shipping manifest, ledger, or leaf through a book to determine its value would have been useful.

As for the literacy/illiteracy rates of Eorzea, I personally have problems with what the devs have claimed on the matter. They say that literacy is rare, reserved mainly for the rich/privileged. However, the examples we're given in-game, to me, don't match up with this. We pass notes between common people, recover 'religious' pamphlets that were meant for the poor and refugees, deliver well-written (and even eloquent/poetic) letters from and to bandits and poachers, and hang job postings for everyday workers. And in all this, there is -only one- NPC that can't read... and her inability to read is because "I never bothered to learn my letters". So I personally run on the assumption that a great deal of Eorzeans are actually literate, just the average level is what I'd expect from, at best, a third-grader. Which from a lot of our Real World expectations, could possibly come off as being illiterate.

Valence · **12-18-2015, 06:59 AM**

I think that the writers often fall into the same trap as us, sometimes forgetting that the setting is different than our own modern reality. Especially when FFXIV tries to still emulate that modern reality through anachronisms like people sunbathing at Costa Del Sol, etc.

I of course would have played an illiterate character if it was not such a central part to the concept behind mine... On that, I can't unfortunately make any concession on the matter. She is a brain more than an everyday muscle, which puts her at odds with much of those Gridanian pragmatic gardeners.

Mia Moui · **12-18-2015, 04:27 PM**

Mia has some education in her family group but mastering reading and writing was not a priority for her. Â So she can read and write, but only with great effort. Â She usually relies on anyone literate in the area to read for her which can be a serious problem. Â She might be forced to have the contractor read a contract for her. Â And one can imagine what kinds of disasters that might invite. Â This can make for some good storytelling and potentially some good RP.

Kou · **12-19-2015, 02:00 PM**

Two characters of mine come to mind.

First is my old main, K'washi. I started off playing him as illiterate, with a bare grasp on the Eorzean language. He had enough knowledge to tell the difference between the different phrases he'd had written in his little book, and that was that. As time went on, he eventually met people that taught him how to read, up to and including his now-husband. Unfortunately, they've both fallen off the radar, pretty much, but it was a fantastic journey from start to finish, to see him grow from illiterate to not.

Currently, I have Yesukai, a former slave born into captivity that's recently gained his freedom. He knows enough about numbers to somewhat be able to tell the difference between them, and he knows the letter A. Largely because he was taught enough to understand what numbers were bigger than what for Triple Triad, but he's still developing and he's still very much a work in progress. And he still very easily messes up some numbers with other numbers.

But I also have a literate character, from start to finish. Akino Naeuri, former Princess of her little city back home in Othard. Reading is her pleasure in life and it's how she's learned so much about the world around her, despite being so sheltered.

My characters always have a history of developing (sometimes healthily, sometimes not). To do otherwise is to remain stagnant, and that's simply boring to me. I'm the kind of player that will revel in seeing a character develop, whether it's my own or someone else's, in whatever way they can.

Zhavi · **12-19-2015, 03:36 PM**

Zhi grew up on the streets, so she didn't know how to read or write. She could recognize some letters, though. It wasn't until her con with Lolotaru that she started to learn to read (she begged him to take her on as an arcanist apprentice so she could get close enough to him to steal something, and part of that was learning to read and write). However, she still doesn't quite have all the letters and even when she can recognize them, she doesn't know a lot of words.

I've had a lot of fun with her being illiterate. She'd receive written messages in game, but because she can be a butt and such, most of the time she wouldn't find anyone to read them to her and would just throw them away. It was fun for me to read the messages and be like 'zhi, you are such a dork' and have her be totally unaware of what was going on -- even when she really should have been considering her status as a runner! Teenage pride and all of that, thinking you're hot stuff and don't need no stinking literacy.

Verad · **12-21-2015, 02:01 AM**

I'll remember the population is illiterate when the devs do the same.

azahana · **12-22-2015, 06:47 PM**

Would I be wrong in saying that I feel illiteracy comes in varying degrees?

A character or those with low education might not be at the standard of a poet or be able to write flowing prose, but would probably be able to pick up the ability to read simple words, signs and numbers.

For example, I can read a few word and to 99 in the numerical system of the native tongue of my family. Conversation is fine, but advanced saying and the business language elude me. Ask me to look at a map and I can figure things out eventually. Ask me to read a news article and I'll fail spectacularly.Â

Game wise, I figure that most adventuring types will figure out some semblance of reading and writing so that they could look at posts and jobs on the board. Soldiers would have rudimentary levels of writing and reading to be able to relay orders and scouting reports.

EDIT: canon wise, Curious Gorge studies the lore of his tribe in an effort to revive it and later his brother is alluded to scouring old texts for references to warriors of old, to one specifically. They're also apparently from some small village in the mountains. Just some food for thought, yeah?

allgivenover · **12-22-2015, 06:52 PM**

I don't think that's far off from the truth at all. I suppose most people know how to recognize their own names or words that have to do with their work.

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Illiteracy in Characters?

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