I arrived in Naha, Okinawa yesterday and took an interest in the local language as usual since languages are one of my hobbies.
Okinawan is a dying language separate from Japanese that is not mutually intelligible with Japanese (though there is also an Okinawan variety of Standard Japanese).
My host in my hostel taught me a couple of phrases but I don't think he can really speak it since I've read that speakers younger than about 70 years old are very few.
Anyway, I stumbled across some lessons on YouTube by a very interesting half-American Okinawan who looks Western but only speaks Japanese and Okinawan. He learned Okinawan from elderly local people twenty years ago and at least up to two years ago apparently gave classes somewhere in Naha with the support of the local authorities.
But I can't seem to find anything on whether these classes are still on offer with him or another teacher, what the exact location and meeting place is, whether enrolling is necessary or casual members of the public including foreign tourists can turn up, and whether there's a fee. Does anybody know more about this? Or at least can somebody who can Google in Japanese find out?