Español en Vivo emphasizes the richness of hispanic culture and the variations of authentic spoken Spanish. Through filmed interviews with more than twenty native Spanish speakers, students are introduced to a variety of dialects that derive from differences in geographical area and other factors such as age, sex, ethnicity, and social status.

The online media contains forty-seven segments filmed on location in Spain, Central America, and Latin America. Unrehearsed interviews with Spanish speakers deal with such aspects of life and culture as:

• Housing
• Family
• The Immigrant Experience
• Cultural Traditions
• Politics

No other book presents the Spanish language in such a natural way, with speakers expressing themselves freely and using the real language of every day.

Each of the book's twenty chapters includes a transcript of an interview seen on online media as well as notes on vocabulary, pronunciation, idioms, and cultural issues. Questions guide students in their comprehension of the interviews and in extending the topics to their own experiences. The questions encourage oral and listening comprehension skills, and they provide opportunities to practice reading and writing skills.