[rjh29]

Memorization focuses on the set of things you want to recall, but don't use often enough to naturally remember.

This is most peritent for language learning because you need to 'bootstrap' a large set of words and grammar, and you can't use all of them often enough to put them in long-term memory (at first).

Aside from foreign languages, I also use flashcards for English - more difficult words that show up rarely enough that I can't remember their definitions - and country flags.

For general learning too, if you need to keep looking something up over and over but can't seem to remember it, flashcards will bootstrap that into your brain and make future learning smoother. Obviously Internet/AI can help - but LLMs can't explain 100% of a topic in their reply, they always assume some level of abstraction, and the higher-level it is the faster you can absorb a topic.

[_JoRo]

I think the key part here is the bootstrapping phase. You may not use a specific English word every week, but maybe you use it every 2-3 months. SRS is great for getting information to these different thresholds!