Tima (ISO 639-3: tms) is a Niger-Congo language spoken by roughly 7,000 people in the Nuba mountains of Sudan, in north-eastern Africa, as well as in smaller communities in the bigger towns of Sudan such as Khartoum and Port Sudan. It is part of the Katla language group which includes the languages Katla and Julut as well as Tima, with Tima being the most distinct of the three. All three languages are regarded as endangered, mainly due to the spreading influence of Arabic in recent decades, but also due to greater speaker mobility. Broadly speaking, there is a decline in speaker fluency from older to younger speakers of Tima. The Tima people are not only exposed to Arabic as the lingua franca and official language of Sudan, but also to English and Kiswahili. These latter languages were introduced into the school system during the extremely difficult circumstances of the second civil war (1983–2005), when teachers from Kenya came to the Tima region (in addition, many Tima people went to Kenya for further education).1

中文翻译：

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蒂玛

蒂马语（ISO 639-3：tms）是一种尼日尔-刚果语言，在非洲东北部的苏丹努巴山区以及喀土穆和港口等苏丹较大城镇的较小社区约有 7,000 人使用苏丹。它是卡特拉语族的一部分，该语族包括卡特拉语、朱鲁特语以及蒂马语，其中蒂马语是这三种语言中最独特的。这三种语言都被视为濒临灭绝，主要是由于近几十年来阿拉伯语的影响力不断扩大，但也由于说话者的流动性更大。一般来说，从年长的蒂玛语使用者到年轻的蒂玛语使用者，其说话的流畅度有所下降。蒂马人不仅接触作为苏丹通用语和官方语言的阿拉伯语，还接触英语和斯瓦希里语。后一种语言是在第二次内战（1983-2005）极其困难的情况下引入学校系统的，当时来自肯尼亚的教师来到蒂马地区（此外，许多蒂马人前往肯尼亚继续教育）。1