Hulse has translated over sixty books from the German, among them works by Goethe, Rilke, and Jakob Wassermann. He is nowadays most familiar as the translator of three of W. G. Sebald's books: The Emigrants, The Rings of Saturn and Vertigo. In addition, he has translated two works by Nobel Laureate Elfriede Jelinek, Lust and Wonderful, Wonderful Times and has collaborated in translating one by Nobel Laureate Herta Müller, The Appointment.