It seems like all interfaces are video and using pictographs. The very little text we see is things like RED or BnL which perhaps are more recognized as symbols than really read — I think that's referred to as functionally illiterate. And consider the pictographic nature of the credit sequence which resembles things like cave paintings where the history of people is being described with pictures rather than with words.
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No
Children are taught English (of a sort) by Nanny-bots
And the Captain is clearly reading aloud (albeit with some difficulty) from his display screen
and directly from Manuel, this time with more confidence
The script notes that the Captain isn't simply working out the text from contextual clues (e.g. the pictures)
The transmission ends. The Captain examines the manual. Holds it out in front of him.
CAPTAIN: (reads; to himself) Operate... Manuel...
and the film's official novelisation gives us an indication of the state of literacy on the ship
Auto took the manual, opened it, and returned it to the Captain.
“Oh ... will you look at that!” the Captain said. It had been a long time since he had read more than a simple line or two on a video screen. It had been even longer since any human had picked up a book and actually read it. “Oooh, that’s a lot of words!”
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Wow, how you get so many GIF's or you made them? – Ankit Sharma Mar 17 '16 at 12:31
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21@AnkitSharma - I use a tool called licecap to capture them from my screen. – Valorum Mar 17 '16 at 12:32
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25What a horrid name for a useful program! – JRE Mar 17 '16 at 12:41
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3@JRE - It's named for the opensource engine it uses (Lightweight Image Composition Engine). – Valorum Mar 17 '16 at 12:49
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21That all being said, maybe the Captain was made captain because he's the best reader on the ship. – Valorum Mar 17 '16 at 13:06
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To be fair, the display is highlighting the syllables separately. Even if you were highly familiar with the word, that would make it difficult to read fluently. – OrangeDog Mar 17 '16 at 14:07
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1@OrangeDog - His reading seems very inconsistent. He has problems with "operation manual" but then copes just fine with "confirm acquisition". – Valorum Mar 17 '16 at 14:11
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9To be fair, I'd have trouble with the word "septuacentennial" too, if I didn't know it was coming. Not really something you use in everyday conversation. – Mike Kellogg Mar 17 '16 at 19:49
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So then functionally literate, if I understand the term correctly? – Broklynite Mar 17 '16 at 20:54
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2@Broklynite - Yes, in this context we know (we can see) that he has sufficient literacy skill needed to do his job. What we don't know is whether he reads for enjoyment or to further his own education which would be the next step up the literacy ladder. – Valorum Mar 17 '16 at 21:14
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@Richard Licecap looks like a very, very useful tool. Any recommendations on which version I should download? (for Windows) – Rand al'Thor Mar 27 '16 at 23:35
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@Randal'Thor - I use v1.24 (for 64bit Windows 8) – Valorum Mar 27 '16 at 23:47
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@Richard Muchas gracias! :-) – Rand al'Thor Mar 28 '16 at 00:05
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@Broklynite - We now have confirmation from the novelisation. The captain is functionally literate. No-one on the Axiom reads for amusement. – Valorum Mar 18 '19 at 21:14
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@Valorum so, much like my country today, got it. – Broklynite Sep 04 '19 at 10:00
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It's likely that they were literate, but their luxury life on the Axiom had made them simple. We know that they've at least been taught for the scene where the babies are being read and shown the alphabet by the robotic teacher. They probably just never exercised their literacy as what they seem to be doing the most is simply talking.
Munesawagi
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