A YouTube comment turned mini-essay on language learning
The original comment/question: Should I try to memorize conversations in the language I'm lerning? Reply: Imagine you're practicing tennis. Each time you play a game, you don't try to memorize the exact things that happened in every game. For example: first I served, then he returned, then I hit a back hand, etc. Of course, that would be absurd. Trying to memorize a previous conversation is like trying to memorize every play in a game of tennis. It's pointless, because every game is different (no two games are the same), and you'll never need the exact same sequence twice. In Taoism there is a quote that says a person never crosses the same river twice. (Because the water is always different water). But at the same time, it *is* the same river. And each game of tennis *is* the same game (because only so much can happen). Likewise, every conversation *is* the same conversation, because it's all variations on some basic themes. Imagine dancing with a partner ... you'll never dance to the same song the exact way. But you will be following the basic steps every time. You're just doing variations on the steps. There's no need to attempt to memorize anything ... because you could easily just have your conversation by reading the blocks on a matrix, and that would totally work. You could even just point to the words on the matrix and not even need to say anything out loud. Memorization happens when you realize that it's more convenient for you to just remember the damn word rather than keep forgetting it. Trying to memorize something when you don't really need it is a burden and the mind rejects it because our mind is smart and knows we're bullshitting and don't really need it. It's saying, yeah, give me a reason to remember this and then I'll help you out. It's the same thing we say in high school math class: When am I ever going to need this?? But when you really need to know something, -- to protect yourself, or to win something or get ahead or get the job or help someone out or impress the opposite sex -- then you'll realize it's effortless to remember, because you need it.