I still think that Thai is not very phonetic and that very few Thais are able to sound out words that they don't know; especially names. I asked Ms. B to explain the pronunciation of เกษตร. She couldn't. Then I asked her to "sound it out". It came out something like "kettoro" (it's actually "kaset"). But, she added that since she didn't know if it was one word or two, sounding it out was problematic.

I learned how to read Thai not by phonics, but by word recognition (Rosetta Stone). I can sound out words that I know. But, if I don't know a word trying to sound it out almost always ends up badly.