OK, so you've learnt to recognize the top 13 letters... Do you want to see how much you can already read? Work through this exercise made up of words using the letters you learnt in the demonstration lesson.
If you haven't followed the lesson yet (13 letters in ten minutes) then watch this video first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQEux3Fo1Oc
If it worked for you then please visit http://www.learnthaionline.com to download the self-study e-book. You'll learn another dozen letters - for free - in less than an hour.
To become fully literate in Thai, simply purchase an access code and work through the course - either in 2-3 half days, or one page a day over two months.
Along the way, you learn to speak Thai correctly, and pick up a vocabulary of arond 400 Thai words through the same visual story association methods, without any memorization required.
Once you can read (albeit slowly at first), you will immediately absorb Thai from your surroundings without any deliberate effort. The more you read, the easier it gets, and the more you will be able to speak and understand Thai.
Being able to communicate in Thai is a great way of making good friends and deep relationships with Thai people. It also makes living and working in Thailand so much more fun (especially if you are a regular visitor to Thailand). Not to mention, it's a lot cheaper to live where the 'real' Thai people are, away from the 'expat' biospheres...
If you haven't already watched the introduction to the 'Rapid' system, you can watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQEux3Fo1Oc
