SignASL year in review 2023

In 2023 32,197,037 searches were made on www.signasl.org a massive +22.5% increase from last year! (This is a 31% higher search volume compared to Sign BSL). Below I have provided a snapshot of the top 50 most searched words during the year.

Search Query No. searches % change
**** 62,356 96%
**** 45,408 109%
abortion 37,692 758%
you're welcome 35,950 225%
**** 30,649 9%
**** 26,458 109%
**** 26,199 47%
**** 25,883 52%
**** 23,845 163%
translate 23,161 337%
have 19,699 35%
good 19,636 34%
what 19,063 34%
like 18,955 34%
love 18,746 50%
want 18,742 48%
how 18,425 31%
when 18,030 33%
thank you 17,029 40%
how are you 17,005 52%
to 16,915 53%
and 16,487 39%
do 15,786 34%
is 15,754 31%
with 15,131 30%
school 14,970 35%
where 14,846 28%
hello 14,788 28%
happy 14,765 29%
i 14,516 32%
for 14,456 58%
why 14,440 41%
we 14,243 52%
go 14,233 31%
you 14,225 60%
dog 14,164 44%
help 14,030 44%
need 13,927 35%
the 13,435 68%
no 13,418 44%
no more 13,412 27%
favorite 13,337 14%
play 13,247 42%
peace 12,938 4%
please 12,913 37%
glory 12,862 33%
not 12,732 52%
can 12,615 22%
in 12,557 34%
know 12,539 54%

Offensive language and racial slurs continue to see a significant increase in searches, with 7 of the top 10 most searched queries containing offensive terms, this is intriguing compared to the search data from the BSL version of the site where the top 50 searches do not contain any such offensive terms.

The big stand out search query for 2023 is searches for "abortion" which experienced a 758% increase from 2022, making it the 3rd most commonly searched word. This is not surprising given the political situation in the United States in 2023.

Aside from the offensive language, common and neutral terms such as "translate," "have," "good," "what," and "like" have also seen increases in searches, suggesting a diverse range of user interests and language learning activities. Polite expressions like "you're welcome," "thank you," and "please" have high search volumes, indicating a focus on communication etiquette.

Basic language components such as pronouns ("I," "you," "we"), conjunctions ("and," "or," "with"), and prepositions ("to," "for," "in") are frequently searched, reflecting a typical pattern of language learning.

Question words like "how," "when," "where," and "why" are commonly searched, suggesting users are interested in learning how to frame questions. Positive expressions like "love," "happy," and "peace" are searched frequently, indicating a desire for positive and uplifting conversations.

Other news updates

An update to the SignASL android app was released to fix video playback issues and support the latest versions of Android. (Special thanks to Gary Rennie for your support with this app.)

I would also like to thank Zachary Krueger a Sign Language Interpreter from Iowa who has for the last few months been reviewing and improving the quality of the ASL dictionary (removing incorrect signs and fixing the word definition associations for the videos).

For those interested in the technology stack that powers the ASL dictionary, I have upgraded the MySQL database from 5.7 to version 8. I have also upgraded the AWS Lambda functions from dot net core 3.1 to .net6. I have also replaced most YouTube embeds to use self hosted videos for improved playback experience.

Looking forward to what 2024 will bring for SignASL!