What language do Okinawa people in Ryukyu Islands speak? Why can't I communicate with the Japanese?

The language used by the indigenous people of Ryukyu Island belongs to one of the languages in the Greater China cultural circle. Influenced by Minnan language in the southeast coast of China, the language features are completely different from Japanese, so it is normal for Ryukyu people and Japanese people to have language barriers.

Ryukyu language is actually divided into two major language families, and the North Ryukyu language family is closer to Japanese, with some identical pronunciations and vocabulary. South Ryukyu language is a language deeply influenced by Minnan language in China, and its pronunciation and vocabulary are very different from Japanese. Many Okinawa people still use this language.

As for why after Ryukyu was occupied by Japan, Japanese has not been fully used on Ryukyu Island for more than 100 years, which involves the history of Ryukyu Island's admiration for Chinese civilization for thousands of years.

In his early years, he admired China culture and sent staff to learn Chinese. Ryukyu is essentially a geographical vocabulary. It consists of dozens of islands, headed by Okinawa. Although it is 700 kilometers away from the southeast coast of China, it was completely within the influence of China culture in its early days.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there were written records of Ryukyu Islands in China, which also proved from the side that the contact between Ryukyu and Chinese civilization was much earlier than that of Japan. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming emperor, conferred the title of Ryukyu King, and officially called this archipelago Ryukyu in the imperial edict, treating it as a vassal state. In other words, Ryukyu Island has now been covered by my Daming, and the Ryukyu royal family and people at that time also accepted it frankly.

Judging from the popular support, Ryukyu's attachment to Chinese civilization has a long history. From Hongwu 16, that is, 1383, Ryukyu Island began to send personnel to the Central Plains to learn the use of Chinese and Chinese characters, and every Ryukyu king was knighted by the Central Plains regime. This situation has not been fundamentally changed even if Japanese Samoans invaded Ryukyu.

Japan's military aggression brought cultural invasion.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese Samo clan began to expand outward, and Ryukyu became one of their goals. They violated the rights of Ryukyu aborigines by means of military occupation and forcible plunder. Because Ryukyu is weak, it is difficult to use military means against Japanese troops from the north.

However, during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the mainland regime adopted the means of sea ban, which led to everything that happened on Ryukyu Island in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. With the development of Chinese civilization and Japanese culture on Ryukyu Island, it is also decided that there will be victory or defeat between the two civilizations. As Japan continues to take military measures against Ryukyu, plundering the wealth of Ryukyu countries and killing local residents, Japan's influence in Ryukyu is growing.

Japanese Teaching after Japan's Total Occupation of Ryukyu

Because Japan is angry that Ryukyu still pursues the practice of obeying Chinese civilization from top to bottom. After Meiji Restoration, Japan with sufficient military strength finally occupied Ryukyu. 1879 in March, Japan secretly mobilized the military and police and suddenly raided the Ryukyu royal family and the administrative department.

It forcibly turned Ryukyu into a county in Japan, abolished the last king of Ryukyu, wantonly destroyed a large number of precious ancient books preserved by Ryukyu, and attempted to obliterate all kinds of records of Ryukyu's connection with Chinese civilization. During this period, the Ryukyu King also sent people to Tianjin to show his kindness to Li See Li Hongzhang, hoping that the Qing government could intervene in this Japanese action. However, because the Qing government was in danger at this time, not to mention sending troops to Ryukyu Island hundreds of nautical miles away, the Ryukyu Kingdom perished.

After Japan completely annexed Ryukyu, it began to promote Japanese education, which was naturally resisted by Ryukyu patriots. The armed resistance movement they set off was repeatedly resisted, but it was brutally suppressed by the Japanese army.

During World War II, the Japanese army brutally slaughtered the local residents of Okinawa, hoping that they would be loyal to Japan, and also intensified the contradiction between Okinawa people and Japanese people to the extreme. After World War II, Ryukyu was deprived of its independence for political reasons and continued to be a county under Japanese rule, which was jointly managed by Japan and the United States.

Conclusion: Due to historical reasons, Ryukyu people are more attached to Chinese civilization, and Japan's brutal rule has made Ryukyu people more hostile to Japan and Japanese languages, so the local language of Ryukyu has been preserved and has become a cultural weapon against Japanese rule.

Under this basic condition, how can there be too many Japanese-related places in the Ryukyu language that has survived now? In Song of Seven Sons by Wen Yiduo, a patriotic scholar, I don't know when and where a string of pearls held in the East China Sea will return to China.