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Interesting example. In Bulgarian, both войска̀ and а̀рмия * mean the exact same thing and you can use whichever you like. I guess it would sound weird if you were to speak about войнѝци in an а̀рмия or армѐйци in a войска̀.

Computer jargon is always interesting to observe, too. "Computer" is simply transliterated "компютър" - because изчислителна машина (calculating machine) is just so unwieldy, while keyboard and mouse are translated to клавиатура and мишка. E-mail seems to have lost its e- prefix and these days is either "мейл" (transliterated) or "поща" (translated) and I don't notice a specific trend one way or the other. Upload and download tend to be translated - качвам (put up, make higher) and свалям (put down, make lower), rather than transliterated - ъплоуд and даунлоуд. I think part of the reason is that words starting with ъ tend to sound ugly, plus the оу combination isn't something usual. Internet is just интернет or less usually мрежата (the net).

* graves added to show pronunciation, we don't write where the stress falls in a word



Войско definitely exists in the language but you won't call the modern army that.

Russian works exactly the same as you described regarding to computer jargon. компьютер, клавиатура, мышка, мейл/почта, загрузить-скачать. Сеть.


My family jokingly uses дупло to refer to email; it's a joke about leaving a letter in a hollow tree for another person to come and look for. I wonder how many other people use what's basically a private dialect to refer to new technology and borrow-words.




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