[Volrath89]

Completely agree here. Memorization is actually quite important.

Try learning Spanish from scratch with a "bad memory" and let me know how it goes.

[sph]

Nonsense. Memory is a necessary component to acquire knowledge and mastery. But knowledge is not memory.

I am fluent in three languages. Learning words is the easy part, fluency unlocks when you are able to think, or feel, in that language. When you have thoughts that you cannot losslessly translate back to your native language.

Knowing Spanish words is not knowing Spanish. Memorization is the first and easiest 5% of the whole process.