Universal Laguage and Literacy

[Fenrir_Lokison]

I was thinking about the ability of understand and speak all languages, the beings (and certain powers) that have this gift, and the annoying limitation of not being able to read and write the languages they understand.

So, my simple question (thought I have the answer, but liket get some side thoughts), is what beings should naturally have both universal lanuage and literacy. Examples in my mind include (with maybe some variations) deities, most alien intelligences, and maybe a specific supernatural ability that act like the Eye of Thoth spell. I mean, would it be weird that the Demon and Deevil lords and greater species of their kind were reliant on someone else to read a letter written in ancient Greece in this time period, how many scolars they have to go through to find that one that can read an long forgotten prophesy found on a recently discovered scroll? Or is this the point? That not even the most mightest of deities have to sometime humble themselves before a mortal for assistance because they can't read or write things their worshipers write for them?

[Prince Artemis]

Not sure this belongs in all things palladium, should probably be moved to the magic area.

But anyway, the sense i get from the spell and natural abilities isn't so much they they 'know' the language they are speaking. They're not omni-glots in the sense that they themselves know every single word of every single language ever (except maybe that one race from splynn dimensional market but their ability is specifically defined as such). More that they understand the meaning behind what is said regardless of the words themselves and are able to convey their own thoughts back to others in a way that they hear it in their own language. This also explains how this ability can work to communicate with everyone in a room at once, even if every individual speaks a different language.

Written language though, is different. Because spoken language has the advantage of being accompanied by body language, as well as tone and inflection. This is why even today, people that can't speak each others language can at least communicate on basic levels. Writing only has the writing itself, with the only help it has being punctuation and perhaps font, but both of these are not naturally communicated unless you already know what they are. There's a reason the Rosetta Stone was such a HUGE thing to find as it provided the reference points to be able to decipher the rest.

So eyes of Thoth is basically just a translator, similar to how the new augmented reality glasses and apps can do the same thing, translating in real time. But unless the creature itself has some sort of inclination towards artificial things, then yeah, a natural ability for deciphering written language makes a lot less sense than spoken.

Another point to this is that verbal communication is universal. All cultures of humans did it (actually, the same for music), but not all cultures developed writing. It used to be one of the tricks that europeans did when visiting 'primitive' cultures. They'd use 'magic' to make a message travel from one person to another without ever making a sound. Though, I can't say that this applies to all creatures on earth, as many insects actually communicate with markings. Theirs are scent based, and not visual, but is serves the same purpose: Delivering a message to others that exists long after you've left the area.

[Grazzik]

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So eyes of Thoth is basically just a translator, similar to how the new augmented reality glasses and apps can do the same thing, translating in real time. But unless the creature itself has some sort of inclination towards artificial things, then yeah, a natural ability for deciphering written language makes a lot less sense than spoken.
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Great elaboration on the concept. This is how I play it too,

As to greater beings not being able to read... well, why would they? If they have a grimoire or spell book, then they probably read Dragonese or Demongogian as the language of many mystic arts and creatures of magic. For example, a quick glance at Rifts DB 10 (Hades) and it looks like greater demons are literate in Dragonese.

Anyway, with spells like Magic Pigeon, why rely on written messages? Among deities, demon lords, etc., it may be considered a serious social step down to rely on such a mortal construct as the written word other than for ritualistic purposes or as a means to manipulate mortals. Also, for ancient beings, there is probably a long standing tradition to rely on scribes... we shouldn't take opportunities away from literate minions, they have a hard enough time as it is with likely having to deal with a condescending boss.

[ShadowLogan]

Written language though, is different. Because spoken language has the advantage of being accompanied by body language, as well as tone and inflection. This is why even today, people that can't speak each others language can at least communicate on basic levels. Writing only has the writing itself, with the only help it has being punctuation and perhaps font, but both of these are not naturally communicated unless you already know what they are. There's a reason the Rosetta Stone was such a HUGE thing to find as it provided the reference points to be able to decipher the rest.

I think it can be several factors to explain:
1. if the ability to universally speak/understand is in part telepathic in nature, it could explain why written communications don't work (nothing for the telepathic nature to work off of)
2. what actually constitutes "writing" for the purpose of this ability? Do pictograms/drawings/icons/Emojis count? What about writing done in a secret code?
3. Alphabet-Script/Font, there are over 100 in use today in the world and possibly more that have died out, some of which are used for multiple languages (which could complicate things if a "word" is found in isolation that has different meanings depending on the language and even the time period or region it was written in
4. languages do change and alter over time, something that might be obscured in written form but not a telepathic ability.