How's Your Catalan?

To me Catalan, which I understand is spoken in the Barcelona area of Spain, sounds like Spanish and looks like a combination of French and Italian.  The word for thank you, for chrissakes, is 'Merci.'  And it uses very Italianate words like 'parla' and 'molto.' 

I've heard that even though practically everyone speaks Spanish in Barcelona, if you really want to feel welcome, it's not a bad idea to bone up on your Catalan.  Other examples:  'Si us plau' is a dead ringer for the French 's'il vous plaît,' now isn't it?  and 'Adéu' is not that far off from 'Adieu.'  Man, those French dudes were all over the place. 

Here's a little Catalon for your listening pleasure: