Long Listening · Section 7

Old Age

And I'll focus specifically on the U.S. U.S. and what old age is like in the U.S. U.S.

Level: A2 · 245 sentences

Transcript

And I'll focus specifically on the U.S. U.S.
and what old age is like in the U.S. U.S.
and... maybe what life is like for older people and things like that.
So hopefully this will be an interesting topic for you.
Okay, let's talk about old age.
So, first of all, let's talk about how
old age is viewed in the U.S. U.S.
I think there are a lot of mixed opinions
when it comes to this.
The phrase mixed opinions refers to opinions that might be contradictory.
Maybe some are positive, some are negative.
These are mixed opinions.
So there are some positive feelings when it comes to old age.
And I think one of the main positive things
is that we tend to associate old age with retirement,
with being retired and not working anymore.
And in the US, retirement is seen positively.
It's interesting because I was talking with my wife about this recently
and we were comparing the attitudes regarding retirement
in the US and in Mexico.
And it's interesting because in Mexico
and probably in most countries around the world,
retirement isn't necessarily seen as some amazing thing, right?
People don't have this idea that they're going to have a fantastic life once they're retired.
and they're gonna do tons of fun activities
and travel around the world and all that kind of stuff.
However, oftentimes Americans kind of fantasize about retirement.
We romanticize it a little bit.
We tend to think that this will be a great time in our lives,
And people often prepare very hard for many years for retirement.
And once they're retired, they try to have fun
and just enjoy their life to the max.
So many retired people like to travel to many places
and take up new hobbies and find fun things to do.
By the way, in English, we can use the phrasal verb take up
when referring to starting a hobby.
So, for example, if I say I took up tennis,
that just means that I started this hobby.
So, older people, when they're retired, They often take up new hobbies
and try to do a lot of fun activities.
So in that sense, this part of old age
can definitely be seen positively in the US.
However, there are also some negative feelings
when it comes to old age because in the US,
just like everywhere else in the world,
older people tend to have more health problems.
So there are often aches and pains
that people have to deal with.
In English, the word ache refers to a pain that you have.
For example, if I say I have a headache,
I'm saying that I have pain in my head.
So when you get older, you tend to have more aches and pains.
Your body doesn't feel the same
as it felt when you were younger.
And you might have some more serious health conditions.
You might have health conditions that don't allow you to have this really active lifestyle.
So we never know what our health will be like when we're older.
And so... that can cause maybe some fear when it comes to getting older.
So, as you can see, there are some mixed opinions,
mixed feelings, because on the one hand,
when you get older and you retire, in the US,
you can often have a lot of fun.
But on the other hand, your body might not be in the best shape
to have all of this fun.
So it's not completely positive or completely negative.
In terms of my view and how I view old age,
I think that there are positives and negatives, of course.
And I think my advice to myself
would be to try to do well now
in order to reap the benefits later.
In English, when we say that you reap benefits,
we're saying that you receive the benefits
of something that you do now.
And you reap those benefits, you receive them at a later time, usually.
So this can be applied to your body.
If you take care of your body when you're younger, then
hopefully you'll have a better body in the future.
And if you take care of your mind when you're younger, hopefully
you'll be in good mental health in the future.
And if you focus on your relationships when you're younger, hopefully
you'll have good relationships in the future when you're older
and you'll have a good circle of people around you
that are willing to help you in case you need help
and who you can connect with at that age.
So hopefully I'm able to do those things.
Next, let's talk a little bit about the living situation
of older people in the US.
So in the US, older people
tend to try to be as independent
as possible for as long as possible.
This is just part of our culture.
We are more independent than other cultures
and people really value being able to take care of themselves.
Most people don't really want other people
to take care of them, right?
People here want to take care of themselves,
feel independent, feel in control of their own life.
That's one of the cultural elements here.
So that also tends to apply to a lot of older people.
They want to hold on to their independence as long as possible.
So it's quite common for people here to continue living on their own,
even when they're a little bit older.
If people are 80 years old, but they're in great health
and they don't need any help with their daily lives, it's possible
that they might live alone, even if they're 80 years old.
Of course, the older you get,
the more likely it is that you'll need some help.
But people in their 70s, And even people in their 80s might still be very independent
and might be able to do everything for themselves.
So if they can, they tend to do that.
However, sometimes they decide to go to a retirement community.
These are communities or residential buildings that are designed for seniors.
By the way, we can use the word senior
to talk about an older person.
So these communities are intended for seniors
who can still take care of themselves mostly,
but they might have very easy access to help
or care if they need it in these communities.
So they live among other older people there
and they probably have a lot of activities
and social events and things like that.
And they have easy access to help if they need it,
but they can still live independently for the most part.
So we have those retirement communities and a lot of people
like those types of communities when they're older
because it really provides a lot of socializing and things like that.
And if people need a little bit more assistance,
if they need a little more help with their daily tasks,
their daily life, maybe their health,
then they might live in an assisted living facility
This is a place where people who aren't completely independent
might live and they receive some help.
They receive more help than in a retirement community, for example.
So they'll probably have daily help with their tasks,
health issues, things like that, but they can still be somewhat independent.
independent and try to do a lot of things on their own
in this place but if the person
really can't take care of themselves and they really need
someone else to take care of them and help them out
then they often go to live in a nursing home
and in a nursing home you have all the help that you need
Someone is always there to provide you with whatever assistance is necessary.
That is kind of a long-term care facility, we might call it.
So you receive everything that you need in order to live your daily life
and you have all the help that you might want.
So that's for...
people that really can't take care of themselves anymore.
So those are some different living situations
that people might have once they reach an older age.
So how about living with your kids
or your grandkids when you're older?
Well, this isn't that common in the U.S. U.S.
It happens.
Some people do this, but it's definitely not as common
as it is in many other countries around the world.
For example, in Mexico, this is really common.
A lot of grandparents live with their children and their grandchildren,
especially if one of the grandparents has passed away.
For example, if the grandfather is no longer alive,
it's very common for the grandmother to live
with her children and her grandchildren.
So that's common in many countries.
However, in the U.S., U.S., it's not as common.
When I was growing up, I remember
that I had some friends who had this living situation.
Their grandparents lived with them.
But practically all of these friends
that had this were children of immigrants.
So their parents and their grandparents were from other countries
and in their countries this was normal.
So I can't really remember having friends
who weren't the children of immigrants
who had this type of living situation.
So that should show you that it's not that common here.
Again, people do this and some people They like this,
but I would say that it's not the norm here.
By the way, in English, we can say
that something is the norm when we want to say
that it's normal or it's the normal thing to do.
So, that's not the norm here.
However, me personally, I tend to like the idea
of having your parents live with you
when they get too old to take care of themselves.
That's something that I have always offered to my parents.
If they need to live with us
then I think that they should.
I think that if it's possible that would be a nice thing
to be able to do for my parents
since they took care of me all throughout my childhood.
So I like that idea, but I would say
that many other people might not like that idea.
And so that really just depends on your own personality, your own preferences.
Not everyone would agree with that, but that's kind of my opinion.
And lastly, let's talk about some activities that older people might do.
So in the US, older people
are encouraged to take care of their health
and older people tend to be conscious
that they need to exercise and keep their body in shape.
And so it's really common to see older people
walking early in the morning or at different times during the day.
But I tend to walk pretty early in the morning.
I like walking and I see almost exclusively older people.
I don't really see a lot of younger people
walking around the neighborhood at this time.
And that's because younger people tend to have to work
or go to school or whatever but you get my point.
I see a lot of older people walking around the neighborhood
pretty early in the morning and they do this in groups sometimes
or they might do it with their spouse but that's very common
and it's common for them to try to engage in light exercise
So they might have some exercise classes or programs.
It just depends on their preference.
And there are some sports that older people really like in the US.
I would say the most popular
sport for seniors in the US is golf.
I love golf.
I haven't played in years, but I still love this sport
and I hope to take it up again in the future.
But if you play golf in the US, you notice
that there are a lot of older people playing on the course.
So this sport is not very hard on your body.
So I think that's why it's a great type
of sport for older people.
And I sometimes see older people playing tennis too.
Tennis is definitely harder on your body than golf.
You definitely have to move more.
But I think that a lot of older people
can also play tennis and enjoy this sport.
And I'm sure there are plenty of other sports
That would be good options for seniors as well.
And some older people like to garden.
They might try to take really good care of their garden
or their front yard or their backyard.
And that can be a good activity for people.
And it can be something that is even
a little bit therapeutic for people.
A lot of people like to garden
because it's good for their mind.
So that can be a great activity for older people.
And of course, if they can, older people tend to like to travel.
As I mentioned, people, once they retire, sometimes want to travel
as much as possible with all of their free time.
So that's another great activity.
And of course, one other very common activity is spending time with grandchildren.
That's obviously something that a lot of grandparents really like to do.