Literacy can
be said to be the state of being literate, especially the ability to read and
write. It can also be described as a person's acquired education or a person’s
own knowledge about an individual subject or field. Then there are people like
Foster who describe literacy as being able to see words for more than what they
appear to be on a page. To become literate one must study and work hard to
become literate in all definitions of the word. One must study the history of a
language, the meaning behind words, and in some cases the people behind them. A
literate person is one who knows the meaning behind words and effect they are meant
to have upon the reader. Textbooks can teach you a lot but they cannot teach
you everything. Words are to felt, loved, studied, and appreciated not tossed aside
at a whim. A literate person is knowledgeable, and wise because of all they
have studied. In many cases being literate makes your thought more complicated
and more concrete. In a perfect world a literate person would want to show and
teach others so that they too can become literate. As we all know this is not a
perfect world. When a literate person reads they do not see just what is in the
lines but what is between them. They see the little minute details which remain
invisible to others. Literacy is being able to feel the words instead of see
them.
What a beautiful quote about words! I agree. I love words! I love to say, "words, words, words," but I know Hamlet was not in love with words necessarily when he said that. Words are sacred; I'm thinking of "logos" and even the Latin "fatum" from which we get "fate" but more importantly, or rather, more deeply, it comes from to verb "to speak." So, fate is that which has been spoken or decreed--the word manifest.
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Anna, when reading your response, other languages like Chinese and Japanese kept flashing through my mind. I remember being told in an elementary Japanese class that a person would have to know 10,000 characters to be literate in the everyday world. I've thought about it for years and I worry, "Do most English speaking people know over 10,000 words?" It doesn't seem like it to me, but words do add up. Other languages in the modern world, like Spanish, French, and English have made reading easier-using less words for signs and public handbooks. Pictures are replaced for instructions. Even though most of English (and other languages) are fully literate, there are some who are becoming more and more dependent on those fixes, which isn't a great way to live. To me, at least.
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