> In one study, Spanish and Japanese speakers couldn't remember the agents of accidental events as adeptly as English speakers could. Why? In Spanish and Japane

> In one study, Spanish and Japanese speakers couldn't remember the agents of accidental events as adeptly as English speakers could. Why? In Spanish and Japanese, the agent of causality is dropped: "The vase broke itself," rather than "John broke the vase." If the author translated "se le rompío el vaso" then it is not quite "the vase broke itself". The "le" is very important: it indicates who did the breaking, albeit indirectly and indicating an accident. I would translate it as "the vase broke on John" (it broke while he was using it.) If the author translated "se rompío el vaso", still, "the vase broke itself" is too literal, just as "se venda" is not translated as "it sells itself" (it means "for sale.") "The vase broke" sounds better.