By reading this brief entry, you may have learned some new words and cultural facts. What's more, you now have a wealth of associations to make with that troublesome second half of "Apfelsine." Seeing the phonetic connection between "-sine" and "China," knowing that oranges come from China, and learning that the English root "Sin-" refers to Chinese things turns a group of easily-forgotten nonsense syllables into a unit of meaning much more easily recalled. At times, such relationships are rather obscure and are generally discovered by the layperson only after consulting an etymological dictionary. However, German and English are very close languages, etymologically speaking, and many clear and consistent relationships can be established. Once you learn a few basic principles about the relationship between German and English, you will be able to look at many German words and recognize related, already-familiar words within them. Best of all, you will find that using an etymological approach will help you learn new words faster and remember them longer.