well to be honeat I don't have one, and I have literally no expectations of learning to read/write it.
For me it's just learning via immersion.
The tones are the problem for me: kao/kao (white/rice).
Well, and the fact that most people here don't actually speak "properly" - they abbreviate everything. "Kob khun krub" becomes a fleeting, almost doppler-like "karrrb".
I've come to accept that I'll never be fluent, or even conversational in thai. I can ask for a tank of gas, I can order a coffee or a meal, I can explain that I don't speak Thai (oh how I understand the situation of non-English speakers knowing 'I don't speak English' in perfect clear English), etc.
My son will be bilingual, and as he learns I'm sure I'll pick up more too, but at this point, having seen the struggle of native speakers (one a former teacher) helping a Thai 7 year old with her homework, I have zero illusions about how hard this language is, and after taking Japanese at school, I have zero illusions about my own aptitude for learning other languages.
For the tones, I recommend this apps section on the tones, after I went through it (its only one page with all tones next to each other) it clicked for me. Never really had issues since then. https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/walen-thai/id733242683?mt=8
But I really recommend learning to read. I started with literally learning the consonants names (āļ = 'do dek'). Then things kind of just naturally follows.
Actually I'm on the opposite. Maybe the language is hard, but when you learn it step by step it feels very easy, since the next piece is just another step.
Most sites wants you to learn "5 consonants, 4 vowels, a few rules, 1 tone" at first. All this does is to make it more confusing IMO. Just learn all 44 consonants, and once you have them down, learn all vowels. Etc.
