SignBSL Year in Review 2021

Daniel Mitchell2 min read

SignBSL Year in Review 2021

End of a year, so time for a quick analysis of the year. SignBSL has been running since 2013 and has experienced growth every year. This year 23,433,479 searches were completed, an increase of just over 16% from last year. It is always fascinating to see what people search for. I have included the top 50 searches below.

Search Query

No. Searches

% change

how are you

54,935

67%

hello

34,330

15%

I love you

33,765

225%

my name is

32,226

32%

happy

32,043

17%

what

30,365

11%

want

29,960

1%

and

29,299

23%

tired

27,973

94%

how

27,937

0%

I

26,796

-5%

thank you

26,698

32%

like

24,970

-7%

no

24,787

9%

good morning

23,976

50%

you

23,081

-4%

do

22,907

-1%

why

22,275

4%

love

22,135

-21%

have

22,125

0%

when

21,489

3%

more

20,893

22%

with

20,084

5%

can

19,716

-7%

good

18,771

26%

a

18,770

36%

where

18,458

12%

to

18,299

-1%

sorry

18,275

33%

please

18,170

23%

toilet

18,115

27%

go

17,963

-5%

beautiful

17,876

26%

yes

17,824

11%

help

17,752

20%

dog

17,365

14%

friend

16,861

17%

on

16,752

76%

who

16,713

6%

word

16,502

0%

today

16,476

2%

school

16,200

5%

need

16,188

-3%

is

15,597

-7%

sister

15,305

26%

say

15,185

62%

the

15,076

17%

your

14,930

16%

are you ok

14,925

100%

hello, my name is

14,860

134%

Its interesting that the top searches are people wanting to introduce themselves or a basic greeting. Clearly a large number of those searching are new to British Sign Language. Phrases such as 'I love you`, `love` and `beautiful` also feature. Perhaps a meeting with a deaf person has prompted someone to learn a short message.

Its also interesting to compare various word pairings. For example "No" was searched 24,782 compared to "Yes" at 17,824. "Sister" searched for 15,305 compared to "Brother" at 13,123. "Good morning" searched for 23,976 compared with "Good afternoon" at 10,606.