Too many cooks spoil the broth

Meaning: Too many people involved can ruin a project.

Example: “Six people edited the flyer and now it's a mess: too many cooks spoil the broth.”

Origin: In 1575 the historian John Hooker quoted "the more cooks, the worse potage" and already called it a proverb. A soup seasoned by several cooks at once, each adding their own touch, ends up ruined; it describes any project spoiled by too many people interfering.

Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, and 4 more languages

French: Trop de cuisiniers gâtent la sauce (literally: Too many cooks spoil the sauce)
Spanish: Muchas manos en un plato hacen mucho garabato (literally: Many hands on a plate make a mess)
Japanese: 船頭多くして船山に登る (Sendō ōku shite fune yama ni noboru) (literally: With too many captains, the ship climbs the mountain)
German: Viele Köche verderben den Brei (literally: Many cooks spoil the porridge)
Italian: Tanti galli a cantar non fa mai giorno (literally: With so many roosters crowing, day never breaks)
Dutch: Veel koks bederven de brij (literally: Many cooks spoil the porridge)
Russian: У семи нянек дитя без глазу (U semi nyanek ditya bez glazu) (literally: With seven nannies, the child loses an eye)
Polish: Gdzie kucharek sześć, tam nie ma co jeść (literally: Where there are six cooks, there's nothing to eat)
Korean: 사공이 많으면 배가 산으로 간다 (Sagongi maneumyeon baega saneuro ganda) (literally: With too many boatmen, the boat ends up on a mountain)

On the map

Too many in charge

The same idea in 21 versions, colored by the picture each one uses. Each country shows the version in its main language.

World map: too many cooks (English, French, German, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic); too many nannies (Russian, Ukrainian, Georgian); too many captains (Japanese, Korean); other pictures (Italian, Greek, Spanish (Spain), Vietnamese).

Download the full map with every saying (PNG)See all world maps

11 more languages on the map

Czech Příliš mnoho kuchařů přesolí polévku“Too many cooks oversalt the soup”Source: Wiktionary; LanGeek (Czech variant)
Hungarian Sok szakács elsózza a levest“Many cooks oversalt the soup”Source: Hungarian Electronic Library (MEK) proverb collection; Wiktionary
Danish For mange kokke fordærver maden“Too many cooks spoil the food”Source: Wiktionary; Ingeniøren (ing.dk) column titled after it
Swedish Ju fler kockar, desto sämre soppa“The more cooks, the worse the soup”Source: Wiktionary; LanGeek
Norwegian Jo flere kokker, desto mer søl“The more cooks, the more mess”Source: Wiktionary; NLS Norwegian language school
Persian آشپز که دو تا شد، آش یا شور می‌شود یا بی‌نمک (Āshpaz ke do tā shod, āsh yā shur mishavad yā bi-namak)“When there are two cooks, the soup comes out too salty or bland”Source: Setare (taught in Iran's third-grade Persian textbook); Abadis dictionary
Arabic من كثرة الطباخين شاطت الطبخة (Min kathrat aṭ-ṭabbākhīn shāṭat aṭ-ṭabkha)“So many cooks that the dish got burned”Source: Kamus Nahwu Arabic dictionary; e3arabi
Ukrainian У семи няньок дитя без ока (U semy nyan'ok dytya bez oka)“With seven nannies, the child loses an eye”Source: Wiktionary; Gazeta.ua column using it
Georgian ორ ძიძას შორის ბავშვი შიმშილით მოკვდაო (Or dzidzas shoris bavshvi shimshilit mokvdao)“Between two nannies, the child starved”Source: Tbilisi State University, Georgian idioms and proverbs database
Greek Όπου λαλούν πολλοί κοκόροι, αργεί να ξημερώσει (Ópou laloún pollí kokóri, argí na ximerósi)“Where many roosters crow, dawn is slow to come”Source: Academy of Athens folklore archive (many regional records from 1905 on); Wiktionary
Vietnamese Lắm thầy thối ma“Too many shamans, and the body rots”Source: VietJack; Lời Giải Hay (Vietnamese school references)