Australian language expert leading volunteer team

With the G20 summit set to be hosted by Hangzhou in September, the role of volunteers is increasingly in the spotlight.

A volunteer ceremony will be held in the city on Saturday and one of the keynote speakers will be Australian multi-linguist Tim Clancy. The 30-year-old was nominated as a representative for the G20 international volunteers by the city government two months ago, after he was named as the first official foreign volunteer shortly after Hangzhou was selected as G20 host at the end of 2015.

It was an apt choice. Clancy, whose wife comes from Jinhua, Zhejiang province, is fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese. He can also communicate in Japanese, Korean, Italian and Turkish, as well as his native English.

He has a broad educational background. After majoring in electrical engineering at Sydney's University of Technology, he traveled to China in 2007 to study, through an international cultural exchange. After a spell as a software engineer in a high-tech printing company in Sydney, he moved back to China in 2011. He is now studying for a degree in medicine.

Five years in Hangzhou gave him the perfect credentials to help newcomers. Together with his wife, he set up a group to help foreigners that offers advice and tips on everything from seeing a doctor, to helping children find places in school, to assisting people in renting flats. It proved so popular that the group attracted more than 200 members.

The group soon branched out to helping charities and became the city's first foreign charity organization, raising funds to help the sick and people with disabilities. Clancy was determined to put his skills to good use in helping local people as well as foreigners.

On his new role as a representative of foreign volunteers, Clancy said he was "very proud, but also under great pressure". "I'll have to behave myself to be a good role model," he said, adding that Australia held a G20 summit in 2014, "but it was a closed meeting, I don't think it affected many people" in their everyday life.

"But in Hangzhou, everyone talks about it. You can see slogans everywhere, taxi drivers, neighbors, and your co-workers discuss it. The local people want to improve their English too. It is good for them," he said.

Clancy's new role means an expanded workload as he has to attend a number of functions. He also hosts a TV program, appropriately named "West Lake Tour With Tim" for Hangzhou TV. "The pace of life is fast here, different from in Australia. I'm getting used to it. Time is so precious for me since I'm a full-time student now, " he said.

The expert linguist has been pursuing his degree since 2014 at Zhejiang University on a full scholarship under the Ministry of Education. He has to finish all courses in Chinese in five years before he can obtain a medical qualification and practice in China.

"I haven't decided yet to stay here or go to other countries after graduation. But I am happy here for now," he said.

shixf@chinadaily.com.cn