Cómo se dice...? has successfully prepared and motivated over one million students to continue their study of Spanish. The program features a balanced, four-skills approach that stresses communicative competency and cultural awareness as well as the mastery of language structures. It remains one of the best-selling programs available today because it is flexible, easy to use, and adaptable to any teaching and learning style. Based on reviewer suggestions, the authors have incorporated many exciting new and enhanced features in the Eighth Edition to address the needs of today's Spanish language class. New! Lesson-opening dialogues, now available on video, provide an alternative, interactive way of presenting the lesson vocabulary and grammar and also reinforce new material visually and aurally. Cultural practices and products presented in the dialogues are examined further in the Aspectos culturales (formerly Lo sabía Ud.?) culture section. Enhanced! Vocabulary presentations are further contextualized via illustrations and short descriptive phrases and sentences in Spanish. Vocabulary is reinforced aurally via word-, phrase- and sentence-level practice including mechanical exercises, for recognition and production, and more open-ended, conversational activities. Enhanced! To accommodate a range of learning styles, more illustration-based and audio-based activities are integrated in the chapter practice; special learning tips, tied to actual tasks, appear throughout the chapter to actively involve students; skill-building strategies and practice help students develop their reading and process-writing skills; and a paced listening-skills program features instruction and practice that progress from syllabic, full-word, and inter-word to full phrases and sentences. Enhanced! A learner-centered interior design presents a visually clear and appealing layout based on two-page spreads and a new art/illustration program aids visual-spatial memory to reinforce learning. New! To facilitate course planning, icons in the text correlate in-text material with corresponding sections of specific ancillaries and annotations in the Instructor's Edition are now in Spanish! Expanded! Integration of culture through vocabulary and Estructuras presentations and practice actively involves students in learning. Coverage of U.S. Hispanics and cultural products, practices, and comparisons has been expanded. Panoramas hispánicos, now appearing in every lesson, feature a country of the Spanish-speaking world or a national group within the Hispanic U.S. and are accompanied by cross-cultural comparison questions. Expanded! Practice in each lesson of the student text now features a greater quantity and variety, including new Hablemos practice following each set of Práctica activities. The workbook, laboratory manual, and testing program now include illustration-based activities/question types, more contextualized practice, and more varied test question types. New! The video features four types of footage to improve listening skills and expand cultural knowledge: dramatic footage of lesson-opening dialogues and 18 main grammar points (one per lesson); new geographic footage accompanied by simple descriptive narratives in Spanish; and unrehearsed, semi-scripted theater improvisations on the lesson theme. A supplementary literary appendix provides additional literary selections and supporting practice for instructors teaching three-semester courses.