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I feel like English is going to be an extremely complex language in a few years with all the different dialects and net-speak. And I wonder, how difficult will it be to teach our kids our native tongue?
I really disagree. I think English is simpler than it's ever been and will only become simpler. The internet, mass media, and globalisation of business both require and enforce common English. I can be a bit of a twat about this because I feel ownership of my language slipping away and the English I type here (for the sake of being understood) is considerably different from the dialectical English I'd use in an email to a friend.
But then, how amazing is it that I can converse with people from many countries around the world and be perfectly well understood? I will always stand by my thought that the world's language should be sign language, though, and that we should all sign the same one. Aside from immediately helping deaf people feel intregrated, everyone's verbal language could continue as is.
Kids will always learn no matter what and new expressions come and go. Don't forget that the learning process is very gradual.
Many languages are much more complex than English and the children always learn. What will be harder is the learning of English by foreign students. Now there are course books just so they can learn net speak. My students would never understand half of what is said on a MSN conversation!
language is constantly evolving to fit the needs of the society which relies on it for communication. If anything I believe we are 'dumbing down' our language more and more as the decades pass. For instance, how many times while reading Shakespeare or books from a different time period have you had to use the dictionary to find the meaning of words that were once commonplace?