In my pursuitof Portuguese knowledge, my tactics have remained similarly unchanged to my stated plan. I would say learning the vocab and general grammar has been manageable because of my knowledge of Spanish. The discussions we've had in class are helpful in understanding how grammar structure works and how to apply them to specific families (in my case Romance languages).
I think there is an important relationship between language and culture, because clearly culture influences language. For example, with Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese are very different because they are influenced by different peoples, different customs, and environments, BP is more influenced by African and Native cultures while EP has stronger Romantic connections.
H.D. Brown’s explanation on communicative competence has helped me when knowing correct speech depending on the situational context. This helps communication with a native speaker flow.
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I so agree on how culture can affect language patterns! I think that European Portuguese is harder to understand than Brazilian Portuguese. At least in my experiences with Brazilian Portuguese, the language feels more informal. I wonder if the African and Indigenous connections have something to do with that.