Thai Language Resources
There's no getting around it: If you want to really fit in with Thai culture, you will have to learn the Thai language.
Sure, English is becoming more and more widely spoken around the country, since international tourism is an important part of Thailand's economy. However, some rural and less educated Thai may feel self-conscious about testing out their English on a foreigner, and even Thai who are fluent in English will be appreciative if you start to learn the language of your new home country.
Thai is a phonetic language, like Chinese, where the meaning of a word can change depending on what stress the speaker puts on each syllable. It also has its own alphabet, full of rounded, beautiful letters you will have to painstakingly learn. A good place to start is LearningThai.com, which provides free grammar lessons, reading lessons and tutorials you can listen to. Elsewhere on the site, take short language lessons by category, such as "Health and Hospitals" and "Meeting a Thai Family."
Another, similar site is Thai-Language.com. Written Thai is prominent on this site, so even navigating around it will allow you to test your knowledge of the Thai alphabet. Plus, it has the interesting feature of showing you the other users online at any given time, so you feel as if you are part of an international language community. The site is free, but will not turn down your donations.
Women Learning Thai is a fun mix of blog and language lesson. It includes interviews with other farang engaged in the difficult task of learning to speak Thai, and reviews of iPhone language apps. It also has posts on the predominance of male, rather than female, expatriates in Thailand.
If you want to learn Thai quickly and don't mind paying for it, try Rosetta Stone, the gold standard in language acquisition. As their promotional photo indicates, learning Thai will have you on a small boat in a picturesque lagoon in no time.
Just like any language, practice and immersion are key. Test out your Thai on the friendly guy behind the desk at your guest house, or on the girl behind the counter at the market. They might laugh if you pronounce a word wrong, but you probably won't make the same mistake next time, and you will be that one small step closer to mastery of the Thai language.