The article outlines the theoretical foundations and the design of a longitudinal study within the field of translation process research. The aim of this empirical study is to get a better understanding of the translation processes deployed by undergraduate students when translating from their mother tongue (Spanish) into their second language (French or German). In order to gain more in-depth insight into how L2 translation competence develops and can best be fostered, students’ translation behavior is being monitored at different points of time during their course of studies: in the second year and third year of their undergraduate program, shortly before graduation. The study aims to identify how the subjects approach the translation task (macrostrategy), what kind of strategies they use in order to create tentative solutions to translation problems, to what extent they are able to activate translation routines and language-pair specific standard transfer operations and how these abilities develop over time. The results of this study will hopefully provide insight into the unfolding of translation skills and thus allow for the development of a process-based approach to translator training. This will become a necessity against the background of the challenges of the European Space of Higher Education, which has produced a shift in university education from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered approach, where special emphasis is placed on the development of student’s skills. Such a process-based methodology invites students to reflect on their translation behavior and fosters the development of metacognitive strategies which ultimately contribute to a competent and successful professional performance.