Born in colonial Morocco, he was son of a military officer.

He studied German philology at the Complutense University of Madrid.

He specialized in translating German authors into Spanish: Bertolt Brecht, Günter Grass, W. G. Sebald, Thomas Bernhard (of whom he also wrote a biography).

He has also translated from English: William Faulkner, Henry Roth, Salman Rushdie.

In 2002 he was the first Spanish translator to receive an honoris causa diploma from the University of Salamanca.