Awww! C'mon guys. A bit of lateral thinking.
"EMERGENCY" in any flight manual is exactly that - an emergency. I think most avaition professionals would understand the term.
OK, OK. The pilot didn't say the recommended ICAO terminology (in the case that Nick mentioned) but let's get some idea of the situation. He was in some state of duress so if the word "emergency" is the only one that comes to mind - so be it!
Citizens of France, Italy, Spain, Russia, or where ever, when conducting domestic flights, have every right to speak in their native tongue; whatever that may be.
They have every right of course but it is the ICAO standard? Can a fellow (French) pilot at a smaller airport understand me (if I say in english) that I have an emergency so please watch out? Don't think so. Maybe I should not be flying in his country?
I know in Australia that CASA requires all student pilots to have (or even demonstrate) a good command of the english language.