reading a spectrogram in praat-french word

[Daniel]

So, thinking you can hear a 'p' and not actually hearing a 'p' don't have to be contradictory statements. A 'p' might not be there, but its traces might be, which are often very highly associated with such a sound.

Exactly. Stops are mostly recognized by the effects they have on surrounding vowels.

[katie333]

hmmm...in the ipa transcription of symptome in french there is no "m"
the nasale E~ is followed by a p.  Is it still possible the speaker is making an m sound?
also, I cannot see a break between the p and t at all.  how do you show this on a spectrogram you are picking apart?

[Daniel]

Ideas like "m sound" make little sense acoustically. Consider instead the timing of gestures. In answer to the question: kinda.

[katie333]

I'm wondering if phonetics is my thing.  I am trying!

[Daniel]

That's ok. This isn't intuitive at first!
Remember that sounds are not distinct units except in the meaning contribution (contrastiveness). Instead you hear/see the effects of movement in the articulators. Looking for landmarks/changes rather than segments will help.