Jargon conveys ideas more effectively and effeciently. Read a hifi magazine to learn about jargon. Choose a simpler magazine like What Hifi. Magazines like Hifi News and Record Review and Stereophile tax your brain to the max when it comes to jargon. Just for you, I'll take a stab at trying to explain some more important jargon.
Transparency is the ability to peer into the recording.
A transparent system allows you to hear small minute details of the performace. Think of hifi as a window. A transparent hifi has the window open letting you see everything outside clearly. A not so transparent sytem may have a closed dirty glass window. The pits would be one of those translucent windows.