Ask HN: How to see commands used by Linux GUI software

So I'm not the best linux guy but I've been using Ubuntu several years now and I'm happy to use the command-line in many situations, helps a lot with my web dev..

However, it occurred to me that it would be somewhat a useful way to learn more command-line syntax if I could see what was being used by the different GUI programs (e.g. Gnome). For example, if I right-click and say make shortcut that I can see the 'ln -s ...' used by the script that the GUI calls.

Is it possible to list these commands (like a read-only termnial) somewhere, ideally as a discrete widget fixed somewhere on the screen? Thanks in advance