Lexicographie bilingue et didactique: le Nuovo vocabolario comparativo delle lingue italiana e francese de Candido Ghiotti

With our interest in the ways in which the dissemination of the culture of others can be an aid in the teaching of foreign languages and in particular in the function we can give to a bilingual dictionary in such dissemination, we have examined a book that can be considered a pioneer work in its adapting the form and content of the bilingual dictionary for educational purposes in the context of teaching French as a Foreign Language in Italy: the Nuovo vocabolario comparativo delle lingue italiana e francese by Candido Ghiotti (1883). Marie-France Merger illustrates Ghiotti’s adaptation of the dictionary’s microstructure to specific language learning needs by illustrating the differences between the two systems described (French vs. Italian). Annick Farina demonstrates how this desire to instruct also applies to aspects concerning the cultures conveyed by these languages and how the Vocabolario becomes part of a larger project for disseminating a view of French civilization as a model to be imitated in post-Unification Italy.