Perhaps bilingual dictionaries do not after all build bridges but only pit/ ferries between the two banks; the result is a sort of understanding, but it is not contact.
Gerald Long , Managing Director of Times Newspapers and a committed lexicophile, takes a suspicious look at some attempts to bridge the gap between linguistic islands. including the bilingual dictionaries of Randle. Cotgrave, Dr Albrecht Reum of Dresden and more recent issues from the large publishing houses.