I think the flooring guy means the change in height / joins in the tiles will show through the vinyl or rubber, not that the vinyl is actually translucent. Called telegraphing in the veneer trade.
Ahhh... I totally misunderstood (i was getting the info seconfd hand). That makes much more sense and when I mentioned it to my wife she looked at me like an idiot as she'd understood just what you've explained to me :)
I think the flooring guy means the change in height / joins in the tiles will show through the vinyl or rubber, not that the vinyl is actually translucent. Called telegraphing in the veneer trade.