> some Latin doesn't hurt, "compassion" is just the same. "com" means with

English uses this "second register" to make words, which makes it harder. German and Dutch do not, they use the regular vocabulary. The classic example is scientific terms like "Carbon", ""hydrogen": In German "Kohlenstoff" and "Wasserstoff". It helps if you realise that "stoff" is stuff, material; "Kohle" is coal and "wasser" is water.