Shouldn't I try to memorize words when I hear them?

We recommend not doing that for several reasons:\n\nYou already heard the word once. Repeating it over and over in your head is just keeping that word alive in your short-term memory. But that is not going to increase the number of times that word is moved from short-term memory into long-term memory, so it's not going to help memorizing it. Instead, letting go of that word and encountering that word at a later time will do that very effectively.\nWhile you are repeating the word in your head, you are missing the next words that are being said, missing part of the input, and possibly losing track of the story or the conversation you were listening to.\nTrying to memorize a word increases the chances that you will start to consciously think about the meaning of the word. That can have the negative consequence of cementing your own mistaken assumptions about the meaning or usage of the word.\nIt’s mentally taxing, and will reduce the amount of input you can listen to or read in a day without getting tired.\n\nWe also answer this question in our video FAQ (with English subtitles)