I was corrected re: pronouncing of the name "Adobe"

I was confidently told that adobe is a Spanish word. It's a Spanish word when it's used in Spanish of course but when it's used in English it's an English word because it has been adopted into English. When a word gets adopted into a new language it's now a word in that language and under the control of the language It can change in spelling meanin and pronunciation. That doesn't change the spelling meaning of pronunciation in the original language because that's a different word in use in a different language. What the confident Spaniard apparently didn't know is that the word adobe was adopted into Spanish from Arabic. So by that rule it was an Arabic word. But of course it is only an Arabic word in Arabic. It is a Spanish word in Spanish. Arabic got the word from Coptic, which is an ancient language from Egypt. So in Coptic it's a Coptic word. And Coptic is a later evolved form of the language Ancient Egyptian, spoken by the pharaohs and their subjects. So ultimately that's where the word adobe came from -- Ancient Egypt(ian). You can bet that at every point along the way it was pronounced the way the people in that language pronounced, all of whom pronounced it correctly for their time and place because it was a word in their language at that point.

In France, that is the correct pronunciation for a French speaker. A final "e" is not pronounced on a word, and nor is "h" ever pronounced (the sound does not exist in French).  Some French speakers might make allowances for foreign (non-French) words, and some might not. Your friend is not wrong, and nor are you. Your acquaintence arguably should not correct you, but equally you should arguably not try to correct your acquaintance. Unless of course you want an argument.

He also did not recognize the name of Van Halen...

By @MrQuat

That´s the biggest issue right there.

So please, Somebody Get Me a Doctor... 😉

"I've met Frenchmen who told me the telephone was invented by a Frenchman, also the automobile and the light bulb."

You can add the hot air balloon (mongolfière), the plane, the bike, the bra, the photo, the calculating machine, the folding umbrella, the micro computer, the Bézier curves… and the Value Added Tax (VAT) !

😉

"I was corrected this summer by a French acquaintance when I mentioned "Adobe"...
He told me with a straight face and a stern glance that is properly pronounced "Ah-doub"

He would not be convinced otherwise."

So you're right: he is a Frenchman!   🙂

In fact, Frenchs mostly prononce foreigns words using the French prononciation.

That's funny about Adobe. I love talking about pronunciations. For Adidas, I say it the German way (AH-dee-dahs, with emphasis on the first syllable), but some in American shoe stores laugh at me (they say Ah-DEE-dus). The designer names are fun, too, with most saying Givenchy wrong.

Moschino = moss-KEY-no
Louis Vuitton = lou-ee VWEE-tah-n (soft 'n')
Loewe = Lo-EE-vay
Lanvin = lohn-vahn
Jean Paul Gaultier = JHON Paul GOH-t-ay
Hervé Léger = ehr-VAY ley-JAY
Givenchy = jee-VOHN-shee
Anna Sui = ah-na swee
Yves Saint Laurent = eeves san lor-RAUN

See:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_(entreprise)

"Adobe Inc. ou Adobe, anciennement Adobe Systems (/adob/ en français, /əˈdoʊbi:/ en anglais) est une entreprise informatique éditant des logiciels graphiques dont ..."

I don't know any Adobe French customer able to understand what /əˈdoʊbi:/ does mean. I am sure a few do.

Living here in Germany, I have heard many Germans say "Ah-doub".  No offense to my German friends.

LOL a young person in Germany that might not know Van Halen would pronounce the V as an F or W. 

I worked at Air France for a few years. There's a reason the term "Chuavinism" is named after a French guy (a Napoleon loyalist). I've met Frenchmen who told me the telephone was invented by a Frenchman, also the automobile and the light bulb.

A rose is still a rose...  I hope you & your acquaintance are still on speaking terms. 🙂

Languages can be polarizing even within the same country.  For example, do you say bucket or pale?  Beach or shore?  Huge or ewe-ge?  Soda or pop? 

The words we use and how we say them say a lot about where we come from (the tribal thing).