[xanderlewis]

I don’t think it is akin; Welsh is almost completely different to English with only a few modern words in common. Just try reading some Welsh as an English speaker. It’s unintelligible.

Catalan is very much a Latinate language, and anyone who speaks Spanish or Italian or French (or even English) can guess the meaning of a lot of words and understand the grammar quite easily.

[Freak_NL]

So by your logic those would be properly called Italian Spanish and French Spanish?

[tenthirtyam]

Maybe more like dialects of Latin? :-)

[apparent]

I have never heard it claimed that English speakers can guess the meaning of a lot of Catalan words. Is this a common sentiment?

[kiliancs]

It is akin in that the same sort of mistaken political intrusion into linguistics was being made.