Guys, underaged anime girls might be your thing but we don't need to know what you look at in your own time.

Yeah, maybe we should get back on topic.
Hmm... How is Japanese different from Ryukyuan and Okinawan?

Please don't tell me you actually visited the site! I wouldn't dare!


Okinawan is 1 of the Ryuukyuuan languages. These languages are separate from the Japanese language & its dialects. Ryuukyuuan & Japanese together form the Japonic family, which most linguists consider to be a separate family from any other.
Okinawan and the Ryuukyuuan languages are not mutually intelligible with Japanese.
The phonologies are quite similar but not identical.
Here's an example of the differences. <男> means "man" & is /otoko/ in Japanese. In Okinawan it's /ʔikiga/, in Amami it's /jeŋga/ & in Miyako it's /bikidum/. <女> means "woman" & is /onna/ in Japanese. It's /ʔunna/ in Okinawan, /ʔonagu/ in Amami & /midum/ in Miyako.

How does the Japanese government watch these languages? Do they like them or do they not? "Damn those hicks should learn to talk properly!", or not?

I believe that was their attitude until recently.

And why did they change their minds?

Nowadays, preserving Ryukyuan languages has become the policy of Okinawan Prefectural government. However, the situation is not very optimistic, since the vast majority of Okinawan children are now monolingual in Japanese.