Article about the Villages (It's in German)

[RVRoadie]

This article was published a few weeks ago in Süddeutsche Zeitung, the largest daily circulation newspaper in Germany.

It was written by Kathrin Warner, a young woman who stayed with us a few months ago while researching the article. She is German, lives in New York and writes about American culture for her newspaper. We had a pleasant visit, and we knew she was writing an article. Hope we didn't say anything really stupid. It looks like we are quoted extensively.

On line translations are not very helpful. So if anybody can read German, I would love to hear your comments about the article.

[Taltarzac725]

This article was published a few weeks ago in Süddeutsche Zeitung, the largest daily circulation newspaper in Germany.

It was written by Kathrin Warner, a young woman who stayed with us a few months ago while researching the article. She is German, lives in New York and writes about American culture for her newspaper. We had a pleasant visit, and we knew she was writing an article. Hope we didn't say anything really stupid. It looks like we are quoted extensively.

On line translations are not very helpful. So if anybody can read German, I would love to hear your comments about the article.

Well I see the Sex on the Square couple and the drinks discussed along with Viaga, playing golf, and some stuff about sexually active seniors. It has been a while since I have taken German classes though. Last one was the Fall of 1989 or thereabouts.

[Taltarzac725]

Hopefully there is TOTVer who is fluent in German who can translate much of this.

I can pick up facts here and there like the most expensive golf cart is $35,000 and seniors acting like teens and vice versa???

[Taltarzac725]

Florida: Willkommen im Disneyland für Rentner - Wirtschaft - Süddeutsche.de (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/florida-willkommen-im-disneyland-fuer-rentner-1.2875582)

Here is a shorter article by this woman.

[graciegirl]

This article was published a few weeks ago in Süddeutsche Zeitung, the largest daily circulation newspaper in Germany.

It was written by Kathrin Warner, a young woman who stayed with us a few months ago while researching the article. She is German, lives in New York and writes about American culture for her newspaper. We had a pleasant visit, and we knew she was writing an article. Hope we didn't say anything really stupid. It looks like we are quoted extensively.

On line translations are not very helpful. So if anybody can read German, I would love to hear your comments about the article.

So she is a little over thirty and RVRoadie and his wife were kind enough to have her stay with them and then she publishes another Leisureville like article. I think the world is jealous of our good fortune to live here. She, being a lawyer, had enough money to stay in a nice hotel, but she visited with a nice couple and then said un.....un...nice things about this place. Boo, I say Boo. I know one word in German. See if I can say it right. Scheisa.

[memason]

Just because I am curious..........How OLD is she?

Here's her "short" bio:

"Kathrin Werner, Jahrgang 1983, ist sechs Wochen vor dem Ableben der Financial Times Deutschland noch Korrespondentin in New York geworden. Seit der Einstellung der Wirtschaftszeitung arbeitet sie freiberuflich in New York - ab Juni vor allem für die Süddeutsche Zeitung. Die gelernte Juristin hat nach diversen Praktika, unter anderem bei der SZ und beim Spiegel, ein Volontariat bei der FTD absolviert. Vor ihrem Wechsel in die USA war sie im Unternehmensressort der FTD und den Schwesterblättern Capital, Impulse und Börse Online zuständig für Energiethemen und die Schifffahrt."

Copy and paste this into translate.google.com for a rough translation, but she's a trained Lawyer and lives in NY. Also, born in 1983.

[RVRoadie]

Just because I am curious..........How OLD is she?

My wife says she was 31.

[Taltarzac725]

She does write quite a bit about you and your wife in her article.

How long was she in the Villages?

I am not aware of the poverty stricken streets near the Village though. I have been in very poor neighborhoods in other parts of the US but have not encountered any of them within 100 miles or so of the Villages. She mentions these in the linked
shorter article.

I know a German woman named Maggie who married an air force radar man-- or something like that-- and moved to the Villages eventually. I have not seen her for a while but maybe if someone knows her, they can get her to look at the longer article and give a translation?

Or, maybe someone who is a native of Germany and speaks German well can translate this for us???

It would take me way too long to translate the longer article.

[RVRoadie]

Well I see the Sex on the Square couple and the drinks discussed along with Viaga, playing golf, and some stuff about sexually active seniors. It has been a while since I have taken German classes though. Last one was the Fall of 1989 or thereabouts.

The internet research she did before coming down here turned up most of this stuff. She had also read Leisureville. We discussed it at some length, and I did my best to debunk most of it. Apparently, I wasn't very successful.

One of the reasons she gave for doing the article was that they really don't have retirement communities in Germany, and certainly not on the scale of TV.

Like I say, we enjoyed her visit, and learned a lot about Germany. I think she also reports on American financial issues, in addition to American culture.

[RVRoadie]

She does write quite a bit about you and your wife in her article.

How long was she in the Villages?

I am not aware of the poverty stricken streets near the Village though. I have been in very poor neighborhoods in other parts of the US but have not encountered any of them within 100 miles or so of the Villages.



She was with us for 4 days. There are areas of Wildwood that fit that description.

[Taltarzac725]

The internet research she did before coming down here turned up most of this stuff. She had also read Leisureville. We discussed it at some length, and I did my best to debunk most of it. Apparently, I wasn't very successful.

One of the reasons she gave for doing the article was that they really don't have retirement communities in Germany, and certainly not on the scale of TV.

Like I say, we enjoyed her visit, and learned a lot about Germany. I think she also reports on American financial issues, in addition to American culture.

It does sound like she interviewed a few bartenders, line dancers and a couple from Germany who live in the Villages?

[Boomer]

Never mind

[pbkmaine]

Interesting article. I think she mostly gets us. She talks about the sun, the palm trees, the neat lawns, the vitality and friendliness of the people. She wonders if we are the future. She finds our motto, "Florida's Friendliest Hometown" to be ironic, since none of us are actually from here. She's amazed by the golf carts. She notes how different The Villages looks compared to the surrounding areas. She does mention the stereotypical stuff like the uneven ratio of single men to single women, but that seems to be required in articles of this type.

At the end of the article, she quotes a German couple, who winter here and summer in Germany: "The people here are simply nicer...They stay young longer, with the sunshine and all the activity."

[Boomer]

Never mind

[memason]

Interesting article. I think she mostly gets us. She talks about the sun, the palm trees, the neat lawns, the vitality and friendliness of the people. She wonders if we are the future. She finds our motto, "Florida's Friendliest Hometown" to be ironic, since none of us are actually from here. She's amazed by the golf carts. She notes how different The Villages looks compared to the surrounding areas. She does mention the stereotypical stuff like the uneven ratio of single men to single women, but that seems to be required in articles of this type.

At the end of the article, she quotes a German couple, who winter here and summer in Germany: "The people here are simply nicer...They stay young longer, with the sunshine and all the activity."

Well, I know a native German speaker and I had them read the entire article.

They shared with me that the article has very negative undertone to it and there are overt references to the Morse family that wasn't even remotely flattering.

Overall, the article is not flattering to The Villages...more like Leisureville.

For instance, the subtitle of the article says:

The Villages "has more than 100,000 inhabitants, and only old.
A trip to Florida - in a city full of golf, sex and life. And without Cemetery

It goes downhill from there.....

[Madelaine Amee]

Ten women to every man, a black market in Viagra, and a 'thriving swingers scene': Welcome to The Villages, Florida, where the elderly residents down Sex on the Square cocktail in 'honor' of woman, 68, arrested for public sex with toyboy | Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2657325/Ten-women-man-black-market-Viagra-thriving-swingers-scene-Welcome-The-Villages-Florida-elderly-residents-Sex-Square-cocktail-honor-woman-68-arrested-public-sex-toyboy.html)

If this link works it will show an article written (supposedly) by a British journalist on The Villages. It was sent to me by a friend who lives here six months of the year. I was incensed when I read this. This article has photos and one of them shows a lady who is in her 80s, nursed her husband for several years, and now dances on the square every night - how bad is that, and yet she makes fun of this lady who is just enjoying the years she has left. I thought this article was disgusting. I should also say that the Daily Mail where this article was printed, is a rag newspaper, a bottom crawler. Not worth the paper it's written on.

I have to conclude that there is tremendous jealousy of our community.

[Taltarzac725]

Well, I know a native German speaker and I had them read the entire article.

They shared with me that the article has very negative undertone to it and there are overt references to the Morse family that wasn't even remotely flattering.

Overall, the article is not flattering to The Villages...more like Leisureville.

For instance, the subtitle of the article says:

The Villages "has more than 100,000 inhabitants, and only old.
A trip to Florida - in a city full of golf, sex and life. And without Cemetery

It goes downhill from there.....

I did get that from my limited German as well. I can only understand maybe 3 in 5 words and that includes contextual guessing.

I have two years of college German and a Course in Reading German for Graduate Students. The latter was taken at the U of MN where they had many such language courses. You do have to use it or lose it unless you are a native speaker or some gift for languages.

The link is probably all you can do because of international copyright laws. You can give an abstract of the article in English though.

[RickeyD]

Translation

Anyone who thinks of boom cities in the US, think of San Francisco and its IT billionaires. Or to New York and its investment bankers. But the city, the fastest growing in the United States, is hardly anyone. They called The Villages is located in Florida, an hour northwest of Orlando. Here now live 114 000 people every month 300 new homes completed. All residents are old, The Villages is a retirement community.

Time for a city visit. Between Orlando Airport and The Villages is one of the poorest parts of America. Swings rust in the front gardens, windows are boarded up, the streets dusty and potholed, which are a few stores that are still open liquor stores or one dollar discount. Then again turn to the entrance of The Villages. Behind the barriers is paradise. Paradise for Old. Who wants to buy a house, must be over 55 years old. Children are forbidden, they may come to visit more than 30 days a year, and by appointment only.

The Villages is a gated community. Anyone who intends to enter, is photographed and recorded, who wants to sleep, needs a guest pass. The palm trees swaying in the wind, sprinkle lawn sprinkler, the perfectly paved roads hum almost only golf carts. They even have their own lanes. There are 76 swimming pools, 40 golf courses and supposedly a black market for cheap, non-prescription Viagra. Who here is a young person to visit, is eyeing, especially young women. "Take care of yourself, with the ancients, you never know," advises Dave, one of the bartenders in the retirement community. "The old people hang around here for irresistible."

display

Behind The Villages puts a real estate developer who died almost a year ago. He never spoke to the press and the Villagers never got to see him, even though he lived in the middle of the retirement community, behind high hedges. The "developer", as he is called by the inhabitants had, during his lifetime purchased hectares as land and The Villages hoisted. His family is all here: The local newspaper, the local radio station and the television station. The Golfcarthändler, insurance, banking, kiosks, where you can buy a beer at happy hour. She sends private vigilante by The Villages, the community watch, patrolling with white carriage through the streets so that no one loitering or a dwarf is in the front yard. Front yard decoration is prohibited. All the houses look the same, the grass is everywhere the same length and green.

The Villages is a Utopia for Old. Holiday to the end, fun, fun, fun every day. Is this the future of aging?

[duhbear]

This article was published a few weeks ago in Süddeutsche Zeitung, the largest daily circulation newspaper in Germany.

It was written by Kathrin Warner, a young woman who stayed with us a few months ago while researching the article. She is German, lives in New York and writes about American culture for her newspaper. We had a pleasant visit, and we knew she was writing an article. Hope we didn't say anything really stupid. It looks like we are quoted extensively.

On line translations are not very helpful. So if anybody can read German, I would love to hear your comments about the article.
Just read the article. It seems to be a standard and honest review of TV and environs. Definitely agree with her that the people here seem more happy than the average German you see on the street there.

[graciegirl]

Translation

Anyone who thinks of boom cities in the US, think of San Francisco and its IT billionaires. Or to New York and its investment bankers. But the city, the fastest growing in the United States, is hardly anyone. They called The Villages is located in Florida, an hour northwest of Orlando. Here now live 114 000 people every month 300 new homes completed. All residents are old, The Villages is a retirement community.

Time for a city visit. Between Orlando Airport and The Villages is one of the poorest parts of America. Swings rust in the front gardens, windows are boarded up, the streets dusty and potholed, which are a few stores that are still open liquor stores or one dollar discount. Then again turn to the entrance of The Villages. Behind the barriers is paradise. Paradise for Old. Who wants to buy a house, must be over 55 years old. Children are forbidden, they may come to visit more than 30 days a year, and by appointment only.

The Villages is a gated community. Anyone who intends to enter, is photographed and recorded, who wants to sleep, needs a guest pass. The palm trees swaying in the wind, sprinkle lawn sprinkler, the perfectly paved roads hum almost only golf carts. They even have their own lanes. There are 76 swimming pools, 40 golf courses and supposedly a black market for cheap, non-prescription Viagra. Who here is a young person to visit, is eyeing, especially young women. "Take care of yourself, with the ancients, you never know," advises Dave, one of the bartenders in the retirement community. "The old people hang around here for irresistible."

display

Behind The Villages puts a real estate developer who died almost a year ago. He never spoke to the press and the Villagers never got to see him, even though he lived in the middle of the retirement community, behind high hedges. The "developer", as he is called by the inhabitants had, during his lifetime purchased hectares as land and The Villages hoisted. His family is all here: The local newspaper, the local radio station and the television station. The Golfcarthändler, insurance, banking, kiosks, where you can buy a beer at happy hour. She sends private vigilante by The Villages, the community watch, patrolling with white carriage through the streets so that no one loitering or a dwarf is in the front yard. Front yard decoration is prohibited. All the houses look the same, the grass is everywhere the same length and green.

The Villages is a Utopia for Old. Holiday to the end, fun, fun, fun every day. Is this the future of aging?



I am very impressed with your ability in another (difficult) language. I thought you were just another pretty face. ;)


I like the part about the village hoisted. (That is how they talk)

[RickeyD]

I am very impressed with your ability in another (difficult) language. I thought you were just another pretty face. ;)


I like the part about the village hoisted. (That is how they talk)

Can't take the credit GG, Google translate did all the work :bigbow:

[Bay Kid]

This is a beautiful place!