German is 101 languages?

http://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/2009/03/08/a-reworking-of-german-language-classification/

This guy says that German is not one language, but is instead 101 different languages. Does this make any kind of sense at all? I knew there were German dialects, but German languages? 101 German languages seems really weird.

What do u think?

There two main "German" languages -Standartdeutsch( based on Hochdeutsch) and Niederdeutsch ( or Plattdeutsch, more related to Dutch,than to Standartdeutsch).
Niederdeutsch and Hochdeutsch are groups dialects.
For example,Kleverlaendisch now is treating as Low German dialect,but it is very closely related to Dutch Geldersch dialect.

For this there's such a thing like registers. You can talk dialect with relatives, and General German to other fellow Germans. This is how dialects work in these modern times.

>>For this there's such a thing like registers. You can talk dialect with >>relatives, and General German to other fellow Germans. This is how >>dialects work in these modern times.

That is indeed the case in the Southern and Eastern parts of Germany, but not in the North, where most people usually just have Standard German.

People use Low German dialect (Oostfreesk) in the Northwest Germany (Ostfriesland).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utgx1e2RpIM&feature=related

I'd say he's using the term "language" very loosely. The same claim could probably be made for England or France.

The same claim could probably be made for England or France.

Not at all! The same claim can be made for Italy

This guy is an idiot with too much time, who simply doesn't know the difference between a language and a dialect.