Actually, it kind of does help a little, in a way. I mean, granted, with an LA-area Mexican/Japanese marriage, there might be other issues entirely added to the mix (part of why I'm asking around before writing the character!), but I'm studying Japanese right now under a teacher who's lived and taught in Japan before**... and what you've described makes perfect sense to me. :)
**I am actually pretty lucky in that, because I don't have to worry too much about writing any of the Japanese-including dialogue for my multilingual Californian transplant, since I can double-check it with her if I'm not sure on something. Which is fantastic, because the character is actually kind of a brat who likes to curse or insult in foreign languages - often with a cheery, deceptively pleasant smile - so that people don't know what she's really saying. XD Which is a lot more fun if I can actually write the dialogue like that in the actual languages (she speaks some Spanish as well, but other than having studied it a lot here and there throughout grade school and part of college, that's not nearly so hard to find resources for in Florida, for obvious reasons :P).
Re: Seattle and Los Angeles Help, Especially Japanese and Hispanics
**I am actually pretty lucky in that, because I don't have to worry too much about writing any of the Japanese-including dialogue for my multilingual Californian transplant, since I can double-check it with her if I'm not sure on something. Which is fantastic, because the character is actually kind of a brat who likes to curse or insult in foreign languages - often with a cheery, deceptively pleasant smile - so that people don't know what she's really saying. XD Which is a lot more fun if I can actually write the dialogue like that in the actual languages (she speaks some Spanish as well, but other than having studied it a lot here and there throughout grade school and part of college, that's not nearly so hard to find resources for in Florida, for obvious reasons :P).