We've got the young Chekov (Pavel Andreivich) giving a vocal authentication and being initially refused because he says "Wictor Wictor" instead of "Victor Victor."
But, but...Victor is a Russian name. Chekov has three Vs in his own name. Russians gave us the name for vodka. (Thanks!)
I mean...Russian doesn't even have a letter for W, but does have one for V (although it looks like what we use for a B). It even combines the 'v' sound with other sounds to form interesting combinations we don't use in English, like 'tv' and 'sv' and 'vm.' Russian is all about the 'v'!
And yet we have this idea that throwing a 'w' in is just the thing to do. At least, we recognize it when we see it, even if we didn't actually learn it in 30-Second-Accent class.
It's bemusing, I tell you.
This puzzle has also been noted at The Volokh Conspiracy, where the comments include various theories. The most plausible of these may be that native Russian speakers could mix up which of the words they'd tend to pronounce with a 'v' should actually have a 'w,' so they overcompensate and sometimes toss a 'w' onto words that should stay 'v.'
The other good explanation proposed is that Chekhov speaks "movie Russian," not actual Russian, and the accent is just different there.
On second thought, that one is probably the most likely. I also see this interview with the actor, Anton Yelchin, who knows what Russian accents sound like and who explains that he was intentionally employing a goofy '60s stereotype of a Russian accent because it fit the somewhat goofy mood of the film in general.
OK, I guess I'm satisfied.
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