Family? Is it "give away for free" or "deliver for free"?

Ok, this is a follow up post on a previous topic. Indigo now knows that "一家 something" is not necessarily meant "a family". In many a case, it's just like a "A" or "One".

I remembered that when I was little, my father used to talk with his friends about "我们家..." and "你们家...". It confused the hack out of me, it was actually meant "our company (or factory or...)" and "your company". You can still hear people talking this way.

一家 房地产 商 为 推销 房屋，打出“买 房子，送 家具”的 广告。某人 买 了一套 新房，装饰 后 去 领 家具。房产商："你的 家具 在 哪里？我们 帮 你 送！"

A real estate business wanted to sell houses, so they put up a sign that read, "Buy Houses, Give Away Funiture." Da Man (thought he was dead? nah, he was stuck in a squirrel tree for a couple of weeks, pretending to be an acorn) bought a house, and after decorating his house with an acorn theme, went to get the furniture. Entrepreneur: "where is your furniture? We'll help you send 'em over!"

A tongue twister (王, 网, 匡, 筐)

It's a nice litle tongue twister for 王(wang2), 网(wang3), 匡(kuang1), 筐(kuang1). You gotta hear Indigo's voice recording, she nailed every one of them on the 3rd try ;-).

王庄 卖 筐，
匡庄 卖 网，
王庄 卖 筐 不 卖 网，
匡庄 卖 网 不 卖 筐，
你要 买 筐 别 去 匡庄 去 王庄，
你要 买 网 别 去 王庄 去 匡庄。

Wang village sells baskets (kuang1),
Kuang village sells nets (wang3),
Wang village sells baskets, not nets,
Kuang village sells nets not baskets,
If ya wanna buy baskets, don't go to Kuang village, go to Wang village,
If ya wanna buy nets, don't go to Wang village, go to Kuang village.

Go to school

I'll start to use the segmentation provided by the software. It is one of the most useful feature so the kids can easily group phrases together to better comprehend Chinese text. With onscreen dictionary, they grasp the meaning quickly. Indigo translates it pretty fast. Does she get it? Well, she doesn't understand why all the teachers dislike Da Man! Sure, she understands why the kids hate him ;-)

母亲 在 清晨 催 儿子 起床 去 学校。“我 不去，因为 有 两个 理由，孩子们 恨 我，老师们 也 讨厌 我。”儿子 说。母亲 说：“我 告诉 你 为什么 应当 去 学校 的 两个 理由。第一,你 已经 四十五岁 了。第二, 你 是 校长。

One morning, a mother was urging her son to hurry up and go to school. "I DON'T WANNA GO!! and here are two reasons, all the kids hate me, the teachers also dislike me!" the son protested. "Well, here are two reasons why you should go to school," his mother said. "First of all, you're already 45 years old. Lastly, you're the principal."