What is the difference between t() and l()? If I understand correctly, t() is the Drupal translations function, is l() simply calling the localization settings for translation specifics, or is there something more to it then that?
The l() function is primarily for links. It takes the parameters of $text, $path, array $options = array() to properly translate links. It also returns a HTML string containing a link to the given path.

It's use looks something like this:

&lt;?php
  l(t('Link text'), 'about-us', array('attributes' =&gt; array('class' =&gt; array('about-link'))));
?&gt;


Another note is it looks as though it's going away in D8, as it currently has no entry in the APIs for 8. Instead, Drupal 8 will use the class:link like so:

$link = Link::fromTextAndUrl($text, $url);


t() is much more general and is used to translate strings. It also takes a different set of arguments ($string, array $args = array(), array $options = array()).