In the story "Through the Tunnel" would Jerry still feel the need to prove himself to the foreign boys if the foreign boys spoke Jerry's language?

In my opinion, Jerry would still have felt the need to
prove himself.  In fact, he might even have felt more pressure to do
it.

In the story, the boys make Jerry feel accepted.  They
do not actually do anything to put pressure on him to go through the tunnel.  He is the
one who feels that he is a failure when they can and he
can't.

But imagine if they spoke his language.  I think
that they might start to make fun of him.  They might actually come out and tell him
that he is some little baby (and a foreign baby at that) and that he should run off and
find his mommy.

In the story, Jerry puts all the pressure
on himself.  If the boys could have spoken English, they might have added to the
pressure by taunting him.