Two things I'd check:
  1. Your chat pane likely has somewhere from 2 to 4 chat tabs. Check to make sure which one you're on. There's a picture of these tabs on this page: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/uigui...at_owntab.html
  2. Each chat tab has different settings of what types of chat it displays. For whatever chat tab you're on, check those settings to make sure the specific chat channels you're looking to read are enabled on that tab. This page shows the settings menus: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/uigui...t_turnoff.html