Is it really iifa tree? Or Lifa tree?

[Goldenboko]

Iifa. I like to say...

"The Iifa tree is really Iffy!"

[boys from the dwarf]

The Iifa tree will always be the Lifa tree to me. Screw facts.

yeah. well put.

i dont think its a habit im going to get out of. i diodn't know it was Iifa until now and i'll keep that in mind but i probably wont change.

[BG-57]

Until fairly recently, I thought it was Lifa, not Iifa. My reasons were fairly simple:

Capital I does look a lot like a lowercase l.

Lifa sounds close to the word life, which given the role of the tree in the game and the Tree of Life in mythology makes sense.

On a related note, a lot of words in English begin with Li-, but not with Ii-, and the words with ii anywhere are often borrowed words like Hawaii.

So reading it quickly, Lifa made more sense than Llfa or Iifa.

[Jigsaw]

I feel ya BG, you make some good points.

But why would a place in the game be always referred to with a lower case letter?

I wish I could climb that tree.

[Quindiana Jones]

That's what I was thinking. Lindblum, Alexandria, lifa? Uh no. It'd be Lifa if it had an L. L makes more sense in English and is easier to say, but I know it as Iifa so am used to that.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Capital I does look a lot like a lowercase l.

Here's your problem. Proper nouns, such as the names of locations, are capitalized. If it weren't obvious to begin, I'd think that that would be the biggest hint that it's Iifa.

[BG-57]

I know proper nouns are supposed to be capitalized, but since the lowercase interpretation nearly matched a real English word that made sense contextually I found it easier to assume the translators had simply forgotten and put it in lowercase than to assume it was correctly written word with unconventional spelling. I freely admit it was the wrong assumption but I still contend it was a reasonable one to make.

[vorpal blade]

What's the japanese spelling for this tree?

[chrisfffan]

its Ifia tree were did u get lifa tree from?

[Croyles]

I know proper nouns are supposed to be capitalized, but since the lowercase interpretation nearly matched a real English word that made sense contextually I found it easier to assume the translators had simply forgotten and put it in lowercase than to assume it was correctly written word with unconventional spelling. I freely admit it was the wrong assumption but I still contend it was a reasonable one to make.

Exactly.
Also, FF9 does not have many mistranslations or typos etc. but I played FF9 for the first time after completing FF7 again.
After seeing things like "This guy are sick" and "Beecause" I thought anything was possible.

[Zidane Ultimate]

The first time I played it through I thought it was the Lifa tree, I was embarrassed when I found out it was Iifa ;_;

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

What's the japanese spelling for this tree?

イーファ

I-fa. Iifa.

[VengefulRonin]

For the longest time i thought it was the Lifa tree...then i realized it was Iifa tree, but i still say Lifa anyway because it sounds better and actually makes sense.

[Sefie1999AD]

What's the japanese spelling for this tree?

イーファ

I-fa. Iifa.

That's good to hear. I guess it's now clear that Iifa isn't a lousy translation error, and the tree is supposed to be called Iifa.

[Heero Yuy NWZC]

It's just a name.

May I ask what led you to think it was "Lifa"? It's such a bizarre conclusion to reach, especially considering how prevalent it is.

I came to the conclusion that the I resembled a lowercase l but in a bigger size which lead to Lifa.