老後: a workshop dream and a peaceful old age
Read a father's dream of a workshop in retirement alongside grandparents who spent a peaceful old age by the sea. Keep the dreamed activity separate from a completed opening and from past living.
A dream for retirement
老後 (ろうご) can mean retirement or old age. In “父は老後に小さな工房を開く夢を語った。” (“My father dreams of opening a small workshop in retirement.”), opening a small workshop is the father's dream for retirement. It is a dreamed activity, rather than a workshop he has already opened.
The Japanese 夢を語った reports his talking about the dream in the past, while “My father dreams” describes the dream in the present. Both keep the workshop opening within the dream instead of reporting a completed opening.
A peaceful old age already spent
In “祖父母は海辺の町で穏やかな老後を過ごした。” (“My grandparents spent a peaceful old age in a seaside town.”), the grandparents spent a peaceful old age in a seaside town. 海辺の町 identifies the place, and 穏やかな describes the peaceful character of that period.
過ごした reports the time they spent. Keep this past living separate from the father's dream of a workshop; the grandparents' sentence is not a wish for how they might live later.
Follow the verb attached to 老後
A sentence about a 夢 focuses on what someone dreams of doing, while 過ごした describes life already spent. The verbs help distinguish the dreamed activity from the grandparents' past experience.
老後 alone does not supply a fixed retirement date or age. Read the workshop dream and the peaceful seaside years through the specific actions and times each sentence describes.
Does 父は老後に小さな工房を開く夢を語った establish that the workshop has already opened?
Show the answer and why
No. Opening the workshop is the content of the father's dream for retirement. 夢を語った reports talking about that dream, not completing the workshop's opening.