In more newbian terms a hardlink points directly to a file, a softlink points to where the file is located.

As for your your second question if you delete a link you delete the link not the file it's linked to via either method.

It should be noted though, if you create a hard link and you wish the delete the original file it will still remain under the linked filename. With a softlink, if you delete the original file the softlink will remain but point to nothing.