Korean origin백지장도 맞들면 낫다 (Baekjijangdo matdeulmyeon natda)
Meaning: Cooperation and teamwork make even difficult tasks easier; many hands make light work.
Literally: Even a blank paper is better when held together
Example: “이사 짐이 많아도 백지장도 맞들면 낫다고, 다 같이 하면 금방 끝난다.” — There's a lot to move, but many hands make light work; together we'll be done in no time.
Equivalents in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, German, and 6 more languages
English: Many hands make light work
French: L'union fait la force (literally: Unity makes strength)
Spanish: La unión hace la fuerza (literally: Union makes strength)
Japanese: 三人寄れば文殊の知恵 (Sannin yoreba Monju no chie) (literally: Three people together have Manjusri's wisdom)
German: Viele Hände machen der Arbeit schnell ein Ende (literally: Many hands quickly make an end of the work)
Italian: L'unione fa la forza (literally: Union makes strength)
Portuguese: A união faz a força (literally: Union makes strength)
Dutch: Vele handen maken licht werk (literally: Many hands make light work)
Russian: Берись дружно, не будет грузно (Beris' druzhno, ne budet gruzno) (literally: Lift together and it won't be heavy)
Chinese: 众人拾柴火焰高 (Zhòngrén shí chái huǒyàn gāo) (literally: When everyone gathers firewood, the flames rise high)
Turkish: Bir elin nesi var, iki elin sesi var (literally: What does one hand have? Two hands make a sound)
Origin: No documented first use survives, though a widely repeated illustrative scenario helps explain the image: in traditional thatched-roof homes, resealing paper window and door screens with fresh, wet paste-coated hanji (traditional Korean paper) in late autumn was a fiddly task — freshly pasted paper sags and folds on its own weight, making it genuinely difficult for one person to lift and apply cleanly without a second pair of hands to help hold it steady. Even something as physically light as a single sheet of blank paper (baekjijang) becomes noticeably easier to manage with two people holding it rather than one, and the proverb extends that small, homely observation into a general statement about cooperation: teamwork lightens even the easiest tasks, let alone the genuinely difficult ones.
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