[exray]

For most of us there's a lot of similarities in learning the code and learning a foreign language. Its a struggle at first and the only pill available is practice-practice-practice. You reach a point where it all clicks and you don't have to do any more 'translating'.

I speak Spanish tolerably and sometimes a gringo buddy will ask impromptu 'what did he say?'. Although I understood it perfectly I find my self looking for the gearshift knob to translate it back to English.

With code common words become a sound, just like a spoken word. Especially at higher speed. No dits and dahs involved. It becomes fun!