Renowned media personality, Deloris Frimpong Manso known in Showbiz as ‘Delay’, has happily welcomed compliments tagging her as the mastermind behind the popular usage of the Twi language among contemporary Ghanaian media broadcasters.
She hinted that at the time of venturing into television presentation, it was almost a nil-practice finding any Twi language programme being anchored by a youngster until she stepped in.
In an interview with Kumasi-based Pure FM’s ‘Bar4Bar’ host, Kojo Sebor, last Saturday, Delay addressed concerns about her stringent choice of Twi language over English.
She disclosed that her decision to tongue Twi on air was received with hostility and mockery to the extent of being tagged a “villager and weird”, in an era where the English language was the most popular and accepted means of communication on the airwaves.
“Of course, of course, I will boldly chest out to say I have made Twi language usage prestigious on the airwaves. When I came on television the first time, years ago, some people tagged me as a villager and illiterate for speaking Twi.”
“At that time, the likes of Maame Dokono and some oldies were frequenting the Twi language while for the youngsters, the English Language was the thing”, Delay answered.
According to the respected TV Host, this style of presentation made her look like the only cockroach among a peep of chickens in the sight of the public, although she was being ordinary.
“The likes of Wolf, Caroline Simpson, Jeremy, Doreen Andoh and other known faces were all English Speakers and I was like the weird person.”
“But today, corporate brands like Coca-Cola, Vodafone and Ideal Milk are all going along with some appealing Twi slogans for advertisement purposes. Twi has become the new flex,” She intoned.
In addition, she spewed that, “I believe it is the way to go because Germans don’t speak English and Italians don’t utter Turkish. So we need to accept what we have and be proud of it.”
Delay expressed that she was deliberate with presenting in Twi as part of her adopted unique strategy upon stepping into radio work in Accra, to help her appeal to the public eye and attract the needed attention.
“But when I landed at Top Radio, I needed to do something which will attract public attention and I realised I needed to do something different. I was intentional about it; I play on words. So it was intentional and planned, and that gave me the attention.”
Particularly known for her informed and crafted usage of the language, coupled with her poetic jargon, Delay, over the years as a TV and radio broadcaster has significantly amassed public affection for her prowess at speaking the Twi language.
She attributed her remarkableness in speaking Twi to her grandmother, whom she said is behind her acquired knowledge and eloquence.
Watch an excerpt of Delay’s interview on Pure FM below:
