Three questions from one sentence ^^

[paekdusan]

Hi. So I'm reading a Korean book on English conversation in order to learn Korean better. (Because I'm weird like that.) Anyway, here's the example sentence that inspired my questions.

"What's the best way to learn English?"

Now, if you had asked me to translate that into Korean I would have either said:
가) 영어를 배울 가장 좋은 방법 뭐예요?
or
나) 영어를 배우는 것이 가장 좋은 방법 뭐예요?
but... the author translates it (and a bunch of other sentences like it) like this:
다) 영어를 배우는 가장 좋은 방법이 무엇인가요?

So.... here are my three questions.

1.) In the author's sentence (다) did he use the ~는 것이 construction and just omit the '것이'? Can you do that? (I'm always learning new things that can be omitted.)

2.) Wouldn't '배울" sound more natural than "배우는"? I guess not, though, since the author is Korean and presumably to be trusted.

and finally....

3.) In this same topic, the author ends several sentences with 무엇인가요?, and several with 무엇일까요? Which made me wonder what the difference was. 어떻게 달라요?

I learned both of these patterns as ways of making a question more polite. But I learned "ㄴ가요" as a "softening strategy", sort of like the "ㄴ데요" ending for sentences. And I learned "ㄹ까요" as a more polite question ending than "ㅂ니까/어요?" endings.

Now I'm just a beginner but, to me, "ㄹ까요" feels slightly more formal. But is there a real difference between the two? Subtle or not? In other words is their any real difference between the following two sentences:
영어를 배우는 가장 좋은 방법이 무엇인가요?
영어를 배우는 가장 좋은 방법이 무엇일까요?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

wbg

[trutherous]

Hi paekdusan님,

I like you already! Be sure to give "Practical English" (생활영어) by 민병철 a try, I found them great for learning Korean in reverse -- like you do.

There are always many ways to say the same thing, sometimes with subtle differences. I like the author's example you quoted. I would probably say it something like this 영어를 배우는데 가장 좋은 방법은 뭐예요?

The way I read these:

영어를 배우는 가장 좋은 방법이 무엇인가요? -What is the best method to study English.
영어를 배우는 가장 좋은 방법이 무엇일까요? -What would be the best method to study English.

[julialim]

I will translate your sentence in my way.*^^*
"What's the best way to learn English?"
영어를 배우기 위한 가장 좋은 방법은 무엇일까?
Or 영어를 배우는데 가장 좋은 방법은 무엇일까? (like George mentioned)
"to learn English" is "a purpose". : - 위한 / -위해

Let me give you another sentence using your sentence.
영어를 배울 가장 좋은 방법 뭐예요? (not natural)
--> 영어를 쉽게 배울 수 있는 가장 좋은 방법은 뭐예요?

영어를 배우는 것이 가장 좋은 방법 뭐예요?(not natural)
-->(유학을 가기 전에) 영어를 배우는 것이 가장 좋은 방법이다.
-->(외국어 중에서)영어를 배우는 것이 가장 좋은 방법인가요?

영어를 배우는 가장 좋은 방법이 무엇인가요? (real question)
영어를 배우는 가장 좋은 방법이 무엇일까요? ("Guess what" in Eng / usually give an answer after this question)