Of course, when I attended an indult Mass for three years, most of the time I couldn't even hear what the priest was saying, so I did not learn most of the prayers. I had a missal and read the translation and if I was lucky, the priest and I were on the same page, but often we were not. And, of course, you can't "read" the Mass and watch what is going on at the altar at the same time. I finally stopped going to the Tridentine Mass because I was disappointed at not being able to do anything more than to watch and listen.
Much about the old Mass is beautiful and it has a certain mystery. But I think people's attachment to it is a matter of taste more than anything.
The Tridentine Mass has places where the priest says certain phrases more loudly than others. This was the signal we used to use to make sure we were "in sync" with the priest. In time, this became second nature. I think that if this had been shown to you, you would have picked it up easily.
A lot of people have an idea about the 'Old Mass' that it was so much more reverent. Not necessarily. There were priests who could do 'shotgun' Masses in Latin as well as they can nowadays in English. Just because it's in Latin, doesn't make it any more reverent.
I have been where you were. I started Tridentine Mass attendance almost two years ago. I was distracted since I was not watching the wonderful ceremony and was always looking down at the book. So I went home, opened the missal and read it for an hour or two trying to determine the stages so I could follow the Mass without knowing Latin and not reading either.
The Tridentine Mass has a plan of two parts of the Mass which contains 3 or 4 stages each. The plan is located in the missal. Read the missal translation and try to understand the overall concept of each stage and what is occuring. If you understand it intellectually before you walk into Church it will provide you great value. You can go well beyond the limitations of language and not be frustrated.
I started learning higher level concepts. Eventually I will just memorize the missal and be able to understand Latin.
Hope this helps.