Best-Kept-Secret Career: Accent-Reduction Specialist

Snapshot: A customer-service person in India speaks perfect English but wants his accent more clearly understood by Americans. A Chinese scientist at a government lab speaks poor English and in such a heavy accent that it's hard to understand him. A corporation has executives with thick Brooklyn, African-American, Latino, or southern accents, and the company believes they'll be more credible if they sound more like a TV news anchor. These are typically the clients of accent-reduction specialists, also known as accent neutralization or accent modification specialists. Demand for this specialty is strong. Most accent-reduction specialists come from the ranks of speech therapists or English-as-a-Second-Language teachers.

Getting there: Typical qualifications: a master's or Ph.D. in speech-language pathology, a license in speech-language pathology in your state, or a specialty credential in accent reduction or ESL training.

Learn more:

• American Accent Training (Book and Audio CD, 2nd Edition) (Paperback) Video of an accent-reduction class
• "Surge in Accent Reduction Classes Speaks Volumes," by Anna Gorman