What is the definition of illiterate

An illiterate person is an adult who cannot read or write. According to our country's standard, it refers to illiterate or semi-literate citizens who have reached the age of fifteen or above.

For some pinyin scripts, especially all-phonetic scripts, if you know the minimum rules of pronunciation, you can read the pronunciation, and then understand the meaning of the text through speech. That's why there are very few illiterate people in countries that use such scripts.

For ideographs, such as Chinese characters, it is easy to understand the meaning without knowing the pronunciation, or to know the pronunciation without knowing the characters, and illiteracy is bound to occur without specialized study of the language.

In the case of vowel-accented scripts (mainly Brahmi scripts), the illiteracy rate in the countries and regions where they are used (South Asian countries and Ethiopia) is quite high due to the complexity of the spelling rules and the backwardness of the literacy level in the areas where they are used, especially in the areas where they are used.

Expanded information:

The purpose of "literacy" is not simply to enable an illiterate person to recognize a few words, but rather to enable him or her to better understand culture, to cultivate himself or herself, and to acquire the practical knowledge and skills needed for a better life.

There are three categories of illiteracy:

The first, those who cannot read and write, which is the traditional sense of illiteracy;

The second, those who cannot recognize the symbols of modern society (i.e., maps, graphs, and other commonly used charts and diagrams);

and the third, those who are unable to use computers for learning, communication, and management.

The latter two categories are considered "functional illiterates," who have received a basic literacy education but have greater difficulty living in a modern society where information dissemination is highly developed.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Illiteracy