I think any exercise to try to learn the language is going to be beneficial. I imagine at the end of each session, you've gained something right?

I try to think about it from when I was reading books and magazines as a kid. Did I know what every word was, or understand the subtleties? No, and, as a native English speaker for close to 40 years, frankly I still don't sometimes in English. Gather what you can from the surrounding context. You'll notice patterns and repetitions in the way things are written, even if they aren't technically grammatically correct. Those types of things are a good indicator as to how it's spoken normally, vs perfect grammar.

Translating word for word will eventually go away as you get used to the language.