This my first post relating to cleaning and hygiene methods.

Question

Most people prefer to wash with soap and water than masking with deodorizer and sanitizer. La mayoría de la gente prefiere lavar con jabón y agua que enmascarar con desodorante y desinfectante.

makes no sense, put it on the forum - Heidita2 19 mins ago flag

This my first post relating to cleaning and hygiene methods. Is there anything wrong with this post?

In your sentence I would put 'rather than' but Ken has a less formal way of expressing g it. - Mardle, Oct 11, 2017

"Instead of" can also work as well too. - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

Agua y jabón - Polenta, Oct 11, 2017

Agua y jabón is like blanco y negro not the other way around negro y blanco in English. - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

Answer 1

NKM:

Here's my effort. I tried to maintain as much of your structure as possible while making the modifications (that I'm am guessing) might be necessary.

La mayoría de las personas prefieren lavarse con jabón y agua para eliminar los malos olores en lugar de enmascararlos con desodorante.

Most people prefer to wash with soap and water in order to eliminate bad odors instead of just masking them with deodorant.

I'll go for your answer! - billygoat, Oct 11, 2017

Also, sanitizers as in alcohol-free or gels. - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

I assume you meant jabón y agua, not jabón de agua. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 11, 2017

Yes, jabón y agua and not the other way around. - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

exatly my answer. - Echoline, Oct 11, 2017

Everything Is ok except agua y jabón. - Polenta, Oct 11, 2017

Polenta: you mean in Spanish you say agua y jabón instead of jabón and agua? (Just the opposite of what we say in English. ) I noticed the same thing with black and white...you say blanco y negro. :) - DilKen, Oct 11, 2017

Well, makes sense, right? You use far more water than soap, and add soap to enhance the cleaning power of water. :-) - Gekkosan, Oct 11, 2017

Answer 2

I'll have a go here......

Most people prefer to wash with soap and water than masking (their body odour) with deodorizer and sanitizer.

La mayoría de la gente prefiere lavarse con jabón y agua que en vez de enmascarar el olor con desodorante y desinfectante.

Yours comes close keeping the sentence structure intact. - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

Agua y jabón - Polenta, Oct 11, 2017

grrrr of course, thanks Polenta :) - billygoat, Oct 11, 2017

Answer 3

Dilken's English is how I would write it - could say body odour to make it clear. To me sanitizer is a sort of disinfectant. Deodorant sounds better to me than deodoriser. Of course inconsistently in the UK there is no u in the odour part.

Were you also considering perfume?

Yes! Deodorizers comes in a spray also. - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

no 'u' in the US spelling Pat .... but you knew that of course - typo :) - billygoat, Oct 11, 2017

Answer 4

No, I think she didn't understand the saying. I do, but this will give others a chance to see and comment on it. Of course, I'm not sure if she meant the Spanish too. Probably....doesn't make sense in Spanish.

It doesn't make sense in Spanish - the lavar at least needs the reflexive 'se' (I think!!!! lol ) - billygoat, Oct 11, 2017

Answer 5

La mayoría de la gente prefierelavarse con agua y jabón a enmascarar el olor con/ detrás. de desodorante(s) y desinfectante(s).

The expression Is agua y jabón ( like it is safe and sound and not sound and safe). The verb preferir Is usually with "a".
Yo prefiero los pantalones a la minifalda.

Since the Spanish sentence is intact, is this correct: La mayoría de la gente prefiere lavarse con agua y jabón a enmascarar el olor con detrás de desinfectantes y desodorantes. - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

You have to choose either con or detrás de. The A is far away from prefiere but you could use it. Another word could be PARA with the meaning in order to. - polenta1, Oct 11, 2017

It can be said in two ways: "La mayoría de la gente prefiere lavarse con agua y jabón a enmascarar el olor con desinfectantes y desodorantes." - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

Or "La mayoría de la gente prefiere lavarse con agua y jabón a enmascarar el olor detrás de desinfectantes y desodorantes." - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017

Am I correct? - NKM1974, Oct 11, 2017