SELECT *, (SELECT 
              COUNT(*) 
            FROM
              gals_category IGNORE INDEX (combined) 
            WHERE gals_category.`category_id` = c.`category_id`) AS cgal,	    
          FROM
            categories AS c 
            JOIN categories_names AS cn 
              ON cn.`category_id` = c.`category_id` 
            WHERE cn.`lang_id`=1 AND c.`active`=1

EXPLAIN SELECT c.`category_id`,c.`ctr`,c.`url`,c.`views`,c.`clicks`,cn.`title`,cn.`keywords`,cn.`description`,c.thumb,
            (SELECT 
              COUNT(*) 
            FROM
              gals_category IGNORE INDEX (combined) 
            WHERE gals_category.`category_id` = c.`category_id`) AS cgal 
          FROM
            categories AS c 
            JOIN categories_names AS cn 
              ON cn.`category_id` = c.`category_id` 
            WHERE cn.`lang_id`=1 AND c.`active`=1

id	select_type	table	type	possible_keys	key	key_len	ref	rows	Extra
1	PRIMARY	c	ALL	category_id,active	\N	\N	\N	486	Using where
1	PRIMARY	cn	ref	category_id,lang_id,combined	category_id	4	mychield.c.category_id	1	Using where
2	DEPENDENT SUBQUERY	gals_category	ref	category_id	category_id	5	mychield.c.category_id	3248	Using where; Using index

CREATE TABLE `categories` (
  `category_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `views` int(11) DEFAULT '0',
  `clicks` int(11) DEFAULT '0',
  `ctr` double DEFAULT '0',
  `url` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `active` int(11) DEFAULT '0',
  `thumb` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  KEY `category_id` (`category_id`),
  KEY `ctr` (`ctr`),
  KEY `active` (`active`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=515 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;


CREATE TABLE `categories_names` (
  `category_names_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `category_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `lang_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
  `title` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `keywords` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  `description` varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  KEY `category_names_id` (`category_names_id`),
  KEY `category_id` (`category_id`),
  KEY `lang_id` (`lang_id`),
  KEY `combined` (`category_id`,`lang_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=514 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;


CREATE TABLE `gals_category` (
  `gals_category_id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  `gal_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
  `category_id` int(11) DEFAULT NULL,
  KEY `gals_category_id` (`gals_category_id`),
  KEY `combined` (`gal_id`,`category_id`),
  KEY `category_id` (`category_id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT=1675305 DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;