Hi rhunt, welcome to the community. Hope you enjoy your stay. [honesty]
Here's an easy way to make your text look semi-transparent.
If you want it completely transparent, then you actually are wanting it to just be "outlined" (stroked). And without any "fill" colour to it.
Choose you colour, and type out the text you want to use.
Click on the "F" icon along the bottom of the Layers Palette (see image below), and within the Layer Styles menu that opens, go to the bottom and click on "Stroke". As soon as you do this, an outline will appear around your type. Set the options there to make the outline as thin/thick as you want. You can also use gradients for the outline if you prefer. Experiment with those options.
Once your type is outlined, click OK to apply the filter. When you're back on your Type layer in the Layers palette, look to the top-right of the palette. You'll see a small white space with the word "Fill" in it, and 100% to the right of that. Click the 100%, and drag the slider to the left. Take note how the fill colour of your type starts to dissappear/fade out. Set this to whatever level you want to create the effect you're after.
Hope that helps. [excited]