A Thematic Dictionary for Doctor–Patient Communication: The Principles and Process of Compilation

Increasing internationalisation has resulted in a constantly growing need for community interpreting worldwide. Healthcare is one of the most challenging domains for community interpreters, as misunderstandings, especiallythosecaused by the use of incorrect terminology, may cost lives. In this paper, we describe the process of planning and compiling the Finnish-Russian Thematic Dictionary for Doctor-Patient Communicationaimed at professional community interpreters and university-level students of community interpreting. We start by describing the theoretical background of dictionary planningand analysing the information needs of the target groups. We then describe and justify the selection of dictionary sources as well as the mega-, macro-, and microstructureof the dictionary. The dictionary has been compiled using a tailored version of the in-house dictionary writing system MyTerMS. We briefly report the details of the technical implementation of the project. Finally, we reflect on some challenges encountered in this project as well as its future prospects.The dictionary can be further developed by increasing the volume of its disease-specific part, adding verbs and usage examples, and customising the electronic version for various target groups and purposes.