user131590: A noob in the bitcoin world, and trying to get in by diversifying some of my assets into bitcoin. My apologies if the question sounds too ignorant or basic. I was just watching this video for beginners which made some sense about how to own and transfer coins.
https://youtu.be/tDXE99uyg4s
It recommends the ledger nano S hardware wallet. As I understand, once I get it delivered as a package, I will have to set up my private/public keys and also my receiver address. To receive payment, shall I just give my address to anyone and ask them to transfer?
In this regard, I have two questions.

How do I know they have transferred?
Unless my hardware wallet connects to the internet via a computer, will the transfer take place at all? What if I ask someone to transfer, and I do not connect my wallet to internet for a week, month, year etc.? Will my money get lost somewhere?

Also, is the hardware wallet really bullet-proof in the sense it cannot stop functioning? Is my entire saving dependent on the functioning of the USB drive? What if it drops in water somewhere, gets spoiled, like any USB drive? Assuming I have all the keys safely noted down, how do I recover my saving?
And, what if the wallet falls in the wrong hand, without the keys? Can they steal my coins?

user41313: 
To receive payment, shall I just give my address to anyone and ask them to transfer?

Yes, but for privacy reasons, it is recommended to give people a new address for each payment, and avoid re-using addresses. The wallet software (such as Ledger Live, or Electrum configured with hardware wallet) will give you an option to generate new addresses, and all of those addresses would go to the same wallet.

How do I know they have transferred?

Either you check for an incoming payment in your wallet software, or you use a blockchain explorer like blockchain.com to look up the Bitcoin address you gave out and check if it has the expected incoming payment.

Unless my hardware wallet connects to the internet via a computer

Your hardware wallet never connects to the internet. Your computer runs wallet software that uses an internet connection. The hardware wallet is only for signing transactions.

What if I ask someone to transfer, and I do not connect my wallet to internet for a week, month, year etc.? Will my money get lost somewhere?

The payment will still go through! You don't need to be online to receive a payment. The record of your bitcoins are stored on the blockchain. Your hardware wallet is only strictly necessary when you wish to spend the Bitcoins.

131590: <p>A noob in the bitcoin world, and trying to get in by diversifying some of my assets into bitcoin. My apologies if the question sounds too ignorant or basic. I was just watching this video for beginners which made some sense about how to own and transfer coins.</p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/tDXE99uyg4s" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/tDXE99uyg4s</a></p>
<p>It recommends the ledger nano S hardware wallet. As I understand, once I get it delivered as a package, I will have to set up my private/public keys and also my receiver address. To receive payment, shall I just give my address to anyone and ask them to transfer?</p>
<p>In this regard, I have two questions.</p>
<ul>
<li>How do I know they have transferred?</li>
<li>Unless my hardware wallet connects to the internet via a computer, will the transfer take place at all? What if I ask someone to transfer, and I do not connect my wallet to internet for a week, month, year etc.? Will my money get lost somewhere?</li>
</ul>
<p>Also, is the hardware wallet really bullet-proof in the sense it cannot stop functioning? Is my entire saving dependent on the functioning of the USB drive? What if it drops in water somewhere, gets spoiled, like any USB drive? Assuming I have all the keys safely noted down, how do I recover my saving?</p>
<p>And, what if the wallet falls in the wrong hand, without the keys? Can they steal my coins?</p>
 41313: <blockquote>
<p>To receive payment, shall I just give my address to anyone and ask them to transfer?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, but for privacy reasons, it is recommended to give people a new address for each payment, and avoid re-using addresses. The wallet software (such as Ledger Live, or Electrum configured with hardware wallet) will give you an option to generate new addresses, and all of those addresses would go to the same wallet.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How do I know they have transferred?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Either you check for an incoming payment in your wallet software, or you use a blockchain explorer like blockchain.com to look up the Bitcoin address you gave out and check if it has the expected incoming payment.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unless my hardware wallet connects to the internet via a computer</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Your hardware wallet never connects to the internet. Your computer runs wallet software that uses an internet connection. The hardware wallet is <em>only</em> for signing transactions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What if I ask someone to transfer, and I do not connect my wallet to internet for a week, month, year etc.? Will my money get lost somewhere?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The payment will still go through! You don't need to be online to receive a payment. The record of your bitcoins are stored on the blockchain. Your hardware wallet is only strictly necessary when you wish to spend the Bitcoins.</p>
