два медведя в одной берлоге

English translation: Too many chiefs, not enough Indians

14:41 Sep 3, 2006

Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

Russian term or phrase: два медведя в одной берлоге

Libero_Lang_Lab KudoZ activity Questions: 356 (3 open) (1 without valid answers) (12 closed without grading) Answers: 1850 United Kingdom
Local time: 11:53

English translation:Too many chiefs, not enough Indians

Explanation:
Perhaps a little more out-of-date would be "Too many cooks spoil the broth". There are probably numerous ways your expression could be rendered.

Selected response from:

spanruss
United States
Local time: 05:53

Grading comment

it's too many cooks, you are right.... but not chiefs and indians, which means sth a bit different in english
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

Too many chiefs, not enough Indians

spanruss

3 +1

If there are two cooks in one house, the soup is either too salty or too cold

Andrew Vdovin

2 +1

two tigers/lions/bears in one cave/den

Nik-On/Off

Two bear cannot abide in one den

Jack slep

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

33 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

two tigers/lions/bears in one cave/den

Explanation:
they are like two tigers in one forest

Nik-On/Off
Ukraine
Local time: 13:53
Native speaker of:

Russian,

Ukrainian

45 mins confidence:

Two bear cannot abide in one den

Explanation:
or: Two sparrows on one ear of corn make an ill agreement (That sounds stupid - both are from Dictionary of 1000 Russian Proverbs, Hippocrene Books, NY, Edited by Peter Mertvago)

Jack slep
Local time: 06:53
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

54 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Too many chiefs, not enough Indians

Explanation:
Perhaps a little more out-of-date would be "Too many cooks spoil the broth". There are probably numerous ways your expression could be rendered.

spanruss
United States
Local time: 05:53
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

it's too many cooks, you are right.... but not chiefs and indians, which means sth a bit different in english

12 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

If there are two cooks in one house, the soup is either too salty or too cold

Explanation:
Это, правда, иранская пословица, так что я ее просто так привожу, "для интересу". См. ссылку - там вообще интересная подборка.

http://www.soupsong.com/zfeb03.html

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Note added at 12 hrs (2006-09-04 03:23:38 GMT)
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Вот еще интересная вещица:

"Two women in one house,
Two cats and one mouse,
Two dogs and one bone,
Will never accord in one"--

a piece of proverbial wisdom of which there are several versions, one of which occurs in the "Book of St. Albans, " 1486 (reprinted 1881)

http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/fow/fow17.htm

Можно взять любую из первых трех строк, но мне больше нравится вот эта:
TWO DOGS AND ONE BONE - то что надо.

Andrew Vdovin
Local time: 17:53
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Russian
PRO pts in category: 16

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