Is russian a good language to study in north america?

i want to work with the language (is that being a linguist?) but im unsure if alot of people speak it in the U.S and Canada. if so how much would i have to study it to be a linguist/translator/interpreter?Is russian a good language to study in north america?
Actually russian is a good %26amp; strategic language to learn, especially now. I know that there are many government jobs available in U.S. for translation/diplomatic services. If you're in college, talk to your counselor. One of my majors is russian (although I'm a native speaker) and my counselor even helped me find scholarships that the government offers for students who declare their major as russian. I don't know how much you'll need to study, but I imagine around 4 years, depending how strong the Russian department is in your university. And I would highly advise you to go abroad for a semester, because you'll pick up the language much faster that way.