A bad workman blames his tools

[dn88]

Hello,

There is such a saying in English: "A bad workman blames his tools". I would like to know whether you have its equivalent in your own language.

In Polish:

"Złej baletnicy przeszkadza rąbek u spódnicy."
--> (almost) literally: "A bad ballerina gets disturbed by the hem of her skirt."

Hope you get my point. Literal translations are really welome.

Regards,

dn88

 

[Flaminius]

Japanese:
できの悪い職人は、自分の道具に難癖をつける。
dekinowarui shokunin-wa jibun-no dōgu-ni nankuse-o tsukeru.
bad workman-TOPIC self-GENITIVE tool-DATIVE findFaultwih.

 

[Whodunit]

For German, I've found:

Wenn der Reiter nichts taugt, hat das Pferd Schuld.
(= If the horseman is not good, the horse is to blamed for it)

 

[Aurin]

Spanish:
Cuando el arriero es malo, le echa la culpa a los burros.
(A bad wagoner blames the donkeys.)

 

[Caulifleur]

劣工尤器 - lie gong you qi
A bad workman blames his tools

 

[doman]

In Vietnamese we don't have this sentence, roughly translated is:
A bad workman blames his tools
Thợ tồi làm nhục đồ nghề !

but we have a sentence with similar meaning:
Chó gầy hổ mặt người nuôi !
Sickly dog affronted his owner !

 

[elroy]

A literal translation of the quote into Arabic would be العامل السيء يلوم أدواته (al-`aamilu 's-sayyi'u yaluumu adawaatahu).

An equivalent proverb in Palestinian Arabic is إللي بعرفش يرقص بقول الأرض عوجة (illi bi`rafeš yur'oS bi'uul il'arD `ooja) - "He who does not know how to dance says that the floor is is crooked."

 

[dn88]

Thanks to all the contributors.

 

[zaby]

I've found several expressions in French, none of them is really common :

Le mauvais ouvrier accuse toujours ses outils (The bad workman always blames his tools)

Jamais mauvais ouvrier ne trouva un bon outil. (Never has a bad workman found a good tool)

Les mauvais ouvriers ont toujours de mauvais outils. (Bad workers always have bad tools).

 

[min300]

hi everybody,

We say 'Aroos nemitoone beraghse mige otagh kaje' which means: A bride doesn't know how to dance,but she says the room is slanted and this is why she can't dance.

 

[Chazzwozzer]

Turkish

Oynamayan gelin yerim dar dermiş.
The bride who doesn't dance says the space is narrow.

Balık: "Çok konuşurum, ama ağzım su dolu." demiş.
"I talk too much, but my mouth is full of water." said the fish.

 

[María Madrid]

Spanish:
Cuando el arriero es malo, le echa la culpa a los burros.
(A bad wagoner blames the donkeys.)

Another one:

El mal caminante le echa la culpa al empedrado.
(A bad walker blames the pavement... kind of) Saludos,

 

[Alijsh]

hi everybody,

We say 'Aroos nemitoone beraghse mige otagh kaje' which means: A bride doesn't know how to dance,but she says the room is slanted and this is why she can't dance.

Thanks. Another variation that I have heard is with divâr (wall) instead of otâq (room). arus nemitune beraqse mige divâr kaj-e. However, otâq sounds more logical And let me write my English translation:

The bride can't dance [and] says room/wall is slanted.

 

[MingRaymond]

In Cantonese,

We 賴地硬 (Blame the hard floor).

R

 

[univerio]

In some parts of China, i.e. my hometown, we also say 睡不着觉怪床歪 (One blames the bed to be crooked when one can't sleep.)

 

[ramen]

Korean kind of has the opposite:
명필은 붓을 탓하지 않는다.
calligrapher-TOPIC brush-ACCUSATIVE accuse-NEGATIVE
A good calligrapher doesn't accuse the writing brush.

 

[Encolpius]

Hungarian --- I checked my big dictionary of idioms and there is only the literal translation: A rossz munkás mindig a szerszámait szidja.
No real Hungarian equivalent.

 

[apmoy70]

In Greek:


We use from the psalmist the phrase «προφάσεις ἐν ἁμαρτίαις» (in MoGr pronunciation) [proˈfasis en amarˈti.es] < «μὴ ἐκκλίνῃς τὴν καρδίαν μου εἰς λόγους πονηρίας τοῦ προφασίζεσθαι προφάσεις ἐν ἁμαρτίαις (LXX psalm 141)-"incline not my heart to evil things, to employ pretexts for sins" (Masoretic psalm 140).

We also use another proverb but I'm afraid its content is quite obscene to post it.

 

[Luxiaofeng]

In Vietnamese:

"Thợ dở lại đổ máy hư"
(Lit. A bad workman blames his tools)

Cheers,
LXF.

 

[ilocas2]

Czech is like Hungarian in this regard.

 

[810senior]

Korean kind of has the opposite:
명필은 붓을 탓하지 않는다.
calligrapher-TOPIC brush-ACCUSATIVE accuse-NEGATIVE
A good calligrapher doesn't accuse the writing brush.

We have similar expression same as Korean does.
弘法は筆を択ばず(koubou wa fude o erabazu) : Koubou[competent calligrapher] doesn't select the brush.

Another one:下手の道具調べ(heta no dougu shirabe) : searching for instruments by the unskilled

 

[ilocas2]

Croatian:

Loš radnik/majstor krivi svoj alat. - Bad worker/handyman blames his tools.

 

[Sardokan1.0]

Sardinian :

Unu malu tribagliadore incúlpat a sos trástes suos

A bad worker blames his tools

 

[rusita preciosa]

Russian: плохому танцоры тапочки мешают /plohomu tantsoru tapochki meshayut/ - ~ a bad dnacer is bothered by his slippers

 

[aruniyan]

hi everybody,

We say 'Aroos nemitoone beraghse mige otagh kaje' which means: A bride doesn't know how to dance,but she says the room is slanted and this is why she can't dance.

In Tamil language also,

Aada theriyaathava theru konalnu sonaa

The one who doesnt know to dance, says the platform/street is slanted/bend.