# 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


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## 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.


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## 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)


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## Aurin

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


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## Caulifleur

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


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## 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 !


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## 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."


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## dn88

Thanks to all the contributors.


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## 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).


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## 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.


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## 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._


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## María Madrid

Aurin said:


> 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,


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## Alijsh

min300 said:


> 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*.


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## MingRaymond

In Cantonese,

We 賴地硬 (Blame the hard floor). 

R


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## 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.)


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## Luxiaofeng

In Vietnamese:

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

Cheers,
LXF.


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## ilocas2

Czech is like Hungarian in this regard.


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## 810senior

ramen said:


> 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


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## ilocas2

Croatian:

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


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## Sardokan1.0

*Sardinian :

Unu malu tribagliadore incúlpat a sos trástes suos

A bad worker blames his tools*


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## rusita preciosa

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


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## aruniyan

_


min300 said:



			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.
		
Click to expand...


In Tamil language also, 

Aada theriyaathava theru_ konalnu sonaa

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


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