No, they are much closer to each other than Welsh and English. If you speak French and Spanish you will understand a lot of what is being said.completely off topic but I just heard this last night from someone who was born in Spain- how far is Catalan from Spanish? Could you understand one from the other?Completely different vocabulary and grammar? Like Welsh to English?
Tots els ?ssers humans neixen lliures i iguals en dignitat i en drets. S?n dotats de ra? i de consci?ncia, i han de comportar-se fraternalment els uns amb els altres.
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/catalan.htm