Alternative writings

Yep, that makes sense, and I've seen it too, mostly in Japanese and in Spanish. But when writers throw in very basic foreign-language words to spice up foreign people's language and try to force a "voice" on them, it's painful. I hate this especially when it's a group of people who ALL speak the foreign language and yet they are conversing in English and peppering it with the most common words of their native language to remind the reader that they're [whatever foreign origin they are].